Sarkis Balkhian is a human rights advocate focusing on the Middle East and the South Caucasus regions. He is currently serving as the Executive Director of Aleppo-NGO, an Armenia based group supporting refugees from Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh). He has previously worked at The Armenian Weekly, Human Rights Watch and USA for UNHCR and has served as a committee member of the Responsibility 2015 Conference in New York and a board member of the Project 2015 Initiative in Istanbul. Balkhian holds a B.A. in Political Science and Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Clark University and an M.A. in diplomacy and international relations from Yerevan State University.