With the financial support of OutRight International, Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO implemented a social assistance program aimed at alleviating the challenges faced by LGBTIQ immigrants who have found themselves in dire straits as a result of conflict and persecution.

Beneficiaries of the program could be LGBTIQ immigrants from Russia and Ukraine who moved to Armenia due to the Russian attack on Ukraine, the subsequent mobilization, crisis, and the adoption of a new bill by the State Duma of the Russian Federation, which exclusively prohibits any “medical intervention directed at changing a person’s sex”, and also invalidates the legal recognition of gender in official documents for trans people.

                                           

As part of the social assistance program, 15 LGBTIQ immigrants received one-time financial assistance that could be used to pay for housing rent, utility bills, and other essential needs. In addition, a total of 25 LGBTIQ persons received parcels of essential food and hygiene items.

                     

Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO has always stood by the side of marginalized groups and has been at the forefront of protecting and supporting the rights of the LGBTIQ community. In addition to this social assistance program, the organization will continue to provide LGBTIQ people with legal and psychological assistance, as well as regularly organize courses, camps, and other events in which LGBTIQ people both from Armenia and abroad can participate.

October 31, 2023 Armenia, Yerevan