New Human Rights Protection Centre opens in Lviv, expanding nationwide access to essential rights and services
The network of Human Rights Centres across Ukraine continues to grow with the opening of a new regional centre in Lviv. This marks another important step in bringing vital protection services closer to people across Ukraine.
The centre has been established on the premises of the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (the Ombudsman of Ukraine) and with the support of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and local authorities.
The regional Human Rights Centres are designed as accessible spaces where people can receive legal counseling, information about access to human rights and direct assistance to resolve complex rights-related challenges affecting their daily lives, such as documentation issues for people displaced from temporarily occupied territories. Safeguarding the rights of people is even more crucial in times of a full-scale war, as risks for certain groups have increased significantly, including for internally displaced people, people with disabilities, older people and people at risk of statelessness.
Since August 2024, UNHCR has supported the Office of the Ombudsman in Ukraine in establishing similar regional centres in Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Zakarpattia, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Odesa and Ternopil regions. Thousands of people have already received support in these centres since their respective openings, including 2,700 individuals in Zakarpattia, 2,570 in Ivano-Frankivsk, and over 2,100 in Chernivtsi (as of April 2026).
© Ombudsman of Ukraine
UNHCR has supported renovations and refurbishments of these and other centres, as well as provided equipment to support their services. This also includes helping to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities and reduced mobility.
