The Arab Program for Human Rights Activists (APHRA) was established in the beginning of 1997 as a civil non-profit corporation in response to the multitude of violations of the basic human rights and freedoms of the great majority of human rights activists and advocates in the Arab region. Due to their belief in the principles and values of human rights, their advocacy activities, and their heroic defense of human rights, those people were exposed to severe cruelties. This situation was aggravated by the lack of an Arab mechanism dedicated to advocating human rights activists, advancing their issues and solving their problems. The Arab Program for Human Rights Activists was, therefore, launched as a vehicle for continuous, collective dialogue on the problems, needs and aspirations of human rights activists in the Arab world. In October 2003 the Arab Program for Human Rights Activists was legally redefined as a non-governmental organization in accordance with the law number 84 issued in 2002 for organizing NGOs in Egypt. APHRA is mainly dedicated to achieving the following objectives: 1. Providing effective mechanisms for protecting human rights activists in the Arab world 2. Supplying and documenting information regarding human rights activists, the violations they are exposed to, their interests and experiences, and investigating ways this information can be used and shared. 3. Promoting continuous communication among human rights activists regarding the ways to satisfy their needs and to solve their problems. 4. Providing an independent platform for human rights activists to express their thoughts, aspirations and problems. 5. Developing theoretical and practical training programs in the different fields of human rights, reinforcing activists' abilities to make field investigation, to monitor and document violations of human rights, and providing teaching in basic rights and freedoms. 6. Building an Arabic and international data base of human rights publications and making them available to human rights activists and researchers.