Main activities of the organization are financed by ongoing projects. We received grants from many different organizations:

• International “Renaissance” Foundation and other institutions of the Open Society Foundations network;
• National Endowment for Democracy (NED) (USA);
• UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture;
• UN Development Program in Ukraine;
• Charles Stewart Mott Foundation;
• MATRA Program of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Ukraine;
• Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ukraine;
• Microsoft Ukraine.

Ongoing projects:

1. Project title: “Increase of effectiveness of the national preventive mechanism in the field of human rights protection in penal institutions within the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine”

Grantor: International “Renaissance” Foundation

Durations of the project: November 2014 – March 2016

Short description: The goal of the project is to promote quality assurance of human rights protection in penal institutions within the MIA (now – National Police Bodies) and State Penitentiary Service by improvement of methodological component of the NPM monitoring activity. Activities within the project can be divided into four groups: 1) Organization and realization of visits to penal institutions within above mentioned systems; 2) Preparation of guides on characteristics of visits to the penal institutions; 3) Organization of two specialized trainings for the national preventive mechanism monitors on features of visits to the penal institutions; 4) Development and creation of an online data base concentrating information about trainings, realized visits and reports on them during realization of the national preventive mechanism.

2. Project title: “Monitoring oh human rights in law enforcement”

Grantor: National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
Duration: February 2016 – December 2017

Short description:  the project is aimed at generalization of the Association’s work in the law enforcement monitoring. It envisages building of a geo-information system of human rights violations organized as a map of Ukraine with results of Association’s monitoring campaigns within the NPM realization marked there; information from the special investigations department of the Secretary of Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights; confirmed facts of tortures or ill treatment covered in the media, or those reported personally by victims; openness of law enforcement bodies in the field of access to public information. By supplementing with information from other open sources we will receive information on regions where human rights are unsecured and which need assistance from human rights activists. Negative assessment of human rights activists’ work will induce them to improve a situation in the region, positive assessment – help to increase people’s confidence in police and facilitate its reformation. So, impact on state bodies is presumed by demonstration of positive and negative tendencies of human rights in different regions.

3. Project title: “Increase legal awareness of the youth in interaction with police”

Grantor: MATRA Program of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Ukraine

Duration of the project: June 2015 – June 2016

Short description: target audience of the project is youth of 15-22 years – Internet users, senior pupils, students. Next materials will be prepared for them: 1) Animations series “You and police”, including 7 videos on different situations on interaction with police: “How to communicate with police on equal terms”, “Show your documents and contents of pockets!”; “Open – it is police!”; “Waiting for you in police office!”; “You disturb the public order – lets go to the police office!”; “You’ve committed a crime”; “Beating by the police”; 2) Updated mobile application “Police under control”, which contains information on standard situations in contacts with police; 3) Printed information materials on this topic (5000 copies), which will be distributed in schools, rehabilitation centers, penitentiary for minors, etc.

4. Project title: “Providing the right to access public information on work of law enforcement in Ukraine in cooperation with Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights”

Grantor: UN development programs  (UNDP)

Duration: April 2015 – March 2016

Short description: The goal of the project is to increase effectiveness of the right to access public information in law enforcement of Ukraine in cooperation with the Commissioner’s Office. It includes a number of activities aimed at adjustment of departmental normative acts of the MIA in accordance with national law, identification of standard human rights violations in the field and facilitation of such systemic violations elimination. For instance, together with the Commissioner’s Office we are going to develop methodology for monitoring of the access to public information on law enforcement. Separate component is realization of three common monitoring visits to law enforcement bodies of Ukraine (MAMIA of Ukraine in Lviv region, AMIA of Ukraine in Odessa region; MAMIA of Ukraine in Dnepropetrovsk region) by the Commissioner’s Office and public monitors with a goal to assess observance of the right to access to public information within the model Ombudsman+. Results of our work will be shared among the wide public with a goal to increase population awareness level on information rights.

5. Project title: “Legal assistance to victims of torture”

Grantor: UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture

Duration: January 2016 – December 2016

Short description: The project is aimed at provision of qualified legal assistance to victims of tortures and development of cooperation with a number of human rights organizations and initiatives, such as: Vostok-SOS, Crimean Field Mission, Advocacy Advisory Panel, Project “Without Borders” of the PO “Social Action Center”, Crimean human rights contact group, Euromaydan-SOS (Center for Civil Liberties), “International Partnership for Human Rights IPHR”, etc. Regarding a scope and character of human rights violations on occupied territories of Ukraine, human rights activists are focused on next aspects: violation of the right to life, enforced disappearances, tortures, illegal detentions, restrictions of the freedom of movement, violations of journalists’ rights, violations of national minorities’ rights.

6. Project title: n/a

Grantor: Foundation of the Open Society Institute (FOSI)

Duration of the project: June 2015 – May 2017

Short description: Provision of institutional support.

7. Project title: “Increase the youth ability to protect and restore its rights”

Grantor: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

Duration: September 2014 – August 2016

Short description: Provision of institutional support.