Human Rights NGOs in Ukraine

Below you can see some examples of the biggest Human Rights NGOs and civil society groups which are currently active in Ukraine.

Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KhPG) is one of the oldest and most active Ukrainian human rights organizations whose experts specialize in promoting and strengthening fundamental human rights in the country and plead strategic cases at the European Court of Human Rights. As a legal entity, it was established in 1992, but it has been working as a human rights protection group since 1988 under the Society "Memorial", an early official human rights organization in the former USSR. Many members of the organization took part in human rights movements during the 1960s – 1980s.
The Group is active in three main areas:

• Providing assistance to individuals whose rights have been infringed, and carrying out investigations into cases of human rights violation;
• Developing human rights education and promoting legal awareness through public actions and publications;
• Providing analysis of the human rights situation in Ukraine (particular with regard to political rights and civil liberties).

Following the onset of the Russian invasion in 2022, their Kharkiv office temporarily halted operations as some staff relocated within Ukraine or abroad. Despite this disruption, they quickly resumed their activities, shifting their focus significantly due to the war. Leveraging their extensive experience in documenting war crimes from the conflict in eastern Ukraine, they revived a specialized database from 2017-2018 to log numerous breaches of international humanitarian and criminal law starting February 24.

In March 2022, they co-founded the T4P initiative, collaborating with over two dozen organizations to hold Russia accountable for its actions. They developed a multilingual website for the initiative, providing real-time statistics from their database. This data supports case submissions to the International Criminal Court in The Hague and other judicial bodies. KHPG also raised funds from international philanthropists to assist those affected by the war. In 2022, they provided humanitarian and charitable aid to hundreds of individuals and began recruiting qualified psychologists to support the victims further.

Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union

The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (UHHRU) was established on April 1, 2004. It is the largest association of human rights organisations in Ukraine. The Union brings together 29 28 non-governmental human rights organisations. The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union promotes the development of human societies based on respect to human life, dignity and harmonious relations between people, the state and nature through the creation of a platform for cooperation between the members of the Union and other members of the human rights movement. The UHHRU constitutes itself as the part of the Helsinki movement and continuator of traditions and activities of the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords on Human Rights – the UHG.

Post-2022 Russian invasion, the UHHRU continues to be active in their social media networks and their publications show their work regarding ongoing monitoring of human rights situation in Ukraine and informing the public about facts of violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms and developing human rights research and analysis, including regular monitoring of draft laws and legal acts, as well as preparing and advocating own legislative initiative.

Association of Ukrainian Human Rights Monitors on Law Enforcement

The Association of Ukrainian Human Rights Monitors on Law Enforcement (Association UMDPL) was founded in 2010 by former employees of the Human Rights Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Interior. The organization oversees nationwide monitoring of Ukrainian law enforcement conduct, utilizing its resources to ensure the active preservation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the Country. The Association UMDPL works with NGOs, activists, civil society experts, victims of abuses, and Government employees.
The main activities of the Association are:

• Monitoring on the police’s compliance with human rights guidelines;
• Analysis of Ukrainian legislation on human rights, documenting the assessments and information materials related to human rights violations;
• Human rights promotion of awareness among public employees and Government officials, carrying out public opinion surveys aimed at evaluating the police effectiveness;
• Development and implementation of public involvement in oversight of law-enforcement activities;
• Preparation of periodic reports on the quality of human rights observance by the Ukrainian police;
• Law enforcement reforms.

Although its annual activities report has not been updated since 2019, on social media, the UMDPL association indicates that it continues its daily work. Now, they are specially focused on projects such as “Documentation of war crimes committed by the Russian Federation” and on creating a “Black Register of Executions, Tortures and Cases of Inhumane Treatment of the Civilian Population in the Territories Temporarily Occupied since February 24, 2022.”

International Women’s Rights Center “La Strada Ukraine”

International Women’s Rights Center “La Strada Ukraine” is a non-governmental organization to work towards the prevention of trafficking in persons, in particular in women and children, elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence in the society, promotion and protection of human rights, gender equality and children's rights. The "La Strada" programme for the  Prevention of Trafficking in Women in Central and Eastern Europe was initiated by three NGOs from the Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic in 1995. Shortly afterwards, in 1997, Ukrainian NGOs joined the program. The Center "La Strada-Ukraine" is a member of the Coordinating Council for the Prevention of Trafficking in Women initiated by the Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights since 1998. In 2004 "La Strada-Ukraine" Center became one of the founders and member of the International "La Strada" Association.

As evident on La Strada-Ukraine website and social media, the NGO remains active in the territory and continues drawing attention to the relevance of the topic of domestic violence in wartime conditions. They emphasize that “dark times should not prevent victims from seeking help”.

Social Action Center 

"Social Action" Center is a Ukrainian human rights organization that works in the field of equality and non-discrimination. Their mission is to develop and promote changes for the sake of equal rights for everyone in Ukraine. The main activities of the Center are:

• Awareness raising on the mechanisms of protection and countermeasures against discrimination and FGM
• Teaching the importance of the creation and implementation of equality policies
• Advocacy for the creation of a comprehensive and effective system of protection against discrimination and combating of illegal activities

On May 21st 2024, the NGO Center for Social Action along with a group of human rights organizations developed a guide for documenting and investigating hate crimes. They highlight that given the occupation of a significantly larger number of Ukrainian territories (compared to the period 2014-2022) and a significant increase of hate rhetoric in Russian media, the likelihood of committing crimes on the basis of hate in the occupied territories has increased significantly. 

 No Borders Project

The No Borders project began as an informal initiative within the non-profit organization Social Action Center. It was established in 2006 by grassroots activists in response to an unlawful extradition of 11 refugees from Ukraine to Uzbekistan. After 9 years working together, the No Borders Project formed a separate organization and changed its name to the "Without Borders" Project. This NGO continues with its initial goal of attracting public attention to civic protests and problems of refugees in Ukraine. Among the sphere of interests of Without Borders activists are  freedom of movement, refugees’ rights in Ukraine, and counteraction to xenophobia and racism in Ukrainian society. Together with other human rights NGOs and international organizations, No Without Borders operates in the following areas:

• Provide legal support to refugees and asylum seekers;
• Monitor and respond to manifestations of  xenophobia, racism and discrimination;
• Act to protect rights and freedoms.

Institute of Mass Information

The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) is a Kyiv-based non-governmental organization that researches mass information in modern society. It was established in 1995 by Ukrainian and foreign journalists. In September 2007, IMI became a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX). The organization’s main objectives include defending freedom of speech, supporting Ukrainian mass media, facilitation of the development of high quality journalism, monitoring the rights of journalists and media and research carried out in the field of public opinion or other occurrences connected with the formation of the collective conscience. 

From the period of 1996-2024, the Institute of Mass Information record contains the following actions:

• Helped develop at least ten draft bills and media reforms, as well as orders and other documents regulating the work of the media and Ukraine's information space.
• Released over 15 manuals for journalists, gave hundreds of training classes to thousands of Ukrainian media workers.
• Contributed to the investigation of hundreds of crimes against journalists, actively worked with the law enforcement as part of task forces.
• Opened 11 Mediabazas in Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Kropyvnytskyi, Odesa and Zhytomyr, which were used by media workers almost 7 thousand times.
• Started documenting Russia's crimes against the media and journalists, developed methodologies and terminology for documenting the crimes of Russian propagandists, and began active work in this line.
• Received numerous international awards, including the Human Rights Tulip, the Journalism Achievement Award from the Internews Network, the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund Award and other prizes, some as part of the human rights coalition "Ukraine 5AM".

The Centre for Civil Liberties

The Centre for Civil Liberties was established in 2007 to promote the values of human rights, democracy and solidarity in Ukraine and Eurasia and to reinforce the principle of human dignity. The NGO is located in Kyiv, Ukraine. Objectives of CCL are protection of fundamental rights and freedoms; representation of the public and public control over the observance of human rights in the activities of national and local governments; work with young people to create a new generation of human rights defenders and civil society activists; advocacy and education on human rights and democracy, implementation of programs of international solidarity.

The Center became the first human rights organization in the world, which in 2014 sent its own mobile teams to document war crimes in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions. To this day, the Center for Civil Liberties continues to do this in all regions where crimes are committed by Russian troops. In 2022, CCL became the first Ukrainian organization to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their pioneering role in holding guilty parties accountable for their crimes.