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COMMUNITY AND ACTIVISM MEETING

On June 18, the Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO organized a one-day meeting on theme of “Community and Activism”, which was attended by the representatives of a number of human rights defender NGOs in the Republic of Armenia and activists of the transgender community.

The purpose of the meeting-discussion was to raise the level of awareness of the transgender community about the NGOs working in the field of human rights and advocacy, to promote the active involvement of the community in the work of NGOs for strengthening democracy and equality in Armenia.

Lilit Martirosyan, President of the Right Side HRD NGO, made an opening speech thanking all the participants for being involved in the meeting, carrying out activist activities and making their voices heard.

The transgender activists who participated in the previous meetings and trainings shared their knowledge, implemented work and achievements. This was followed by a panel discussion, where the speakers were transgender activists who had been fighting for equality, security and democracy for years. Raising the issues of transgender people, the activists spoke about the hardships of their lives, how they were subjected to stigma, discrimination based on their gender identity, sexual orientation, lack of education and employment.

During the meeting, a platform was provided for the NGO representatives, who provided information about their activities, presented how Trans people could be involved in their work. The representatives of the NGOs were Vaghinak-Ter Hovhannisyan, Executive Director and Lilit Avetisyan, President of Pink Armenia NGO, Artak Arakelyan, President of Diversity NGO, Ashot Gevorgyan, President of Dignity Movement NGO, Nora Aghazaryan, President of Fearless Human Rights Defender NGO, Arpi Balyan, Co-Founder of FemLibrary Armenia NGO, Sem Ghukasyan, President of Equality of Opportunity NGO, and other members and volunteers from these NGOs.

Continuing the meeting, the trans activists and NGO representatives were divided into working groups, mapped the needs of the trans activists to assist them in their work.

After the group work, all the participants presented their problems and received suggestions from the NGO representatives to solve the problems they faced and to empower trans people by involving them in various projects.

At the end of the meeting, Lilit Martirosyan thanked all the representatives of the NGOs and activists by highlighting the importance of cooperation for the improvement of the quality of life, security, rights protection of TRANS and LGBIQ people.

At the end of the meeting, all the participants thanked for the platform, which strengthened the bond between NGOs and community for the sake of common values, and suggested that similar meetings be organized more often, involving other NGOs involved in human rights protection.

The meeting was held within the framework of the “Strengthening access to justice through non-judicial redress for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes in the Eastern Partnership” project which is funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe․

The views expressed during the meeting can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union or the Council of Europe.

Jun 22, 2021 Armenia Yerevan

 

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