Globalization has given opportunities to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to emerge on the world stage as one of the central players in the processes of promotion and protection of human rights around the world. The emergence of new actors in the human rights field raises questions not only about their impact on the protection of human rights, but also their impact on the state, which for a long time has had a monopoly on deciding how to treat its citizens. The article aims to analyze the role of human rights NGOs from the perspective of state sovereignty versus/and human rights, and provide answers to the following questions: what is the input of NGOs in protecting human rights? Do their activities lead to real improvements in human rights practices within a state? What is their impact on state sovereignty? How do the activities of NGOs influence the state's authority and legitimacy? Analysis has shown that the impact of human rights NGOs on state sovereignty and human rights protection depends on many factors, such as the country's level of development, political regime, the size of human rights NGOs, etc. This leads to the tentative conclusion that human rights NGOs may be both human rights defenders and state sovereignty destroyers.