Lenin Raghuvanshi
Lenin Raghuvanshi
Rights of the Marginalized in India
Lenin Raghuvanshi is the Secretary General and Executive Director of the Peoples' Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR). His human rights work focuses on advocating for the basic rights of marginalised groups in Indian society.
An Ayurvedic physician by profession, he has been working for the rights of bonded and child labourers and other marginalised people in Varanasi and eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, India.
In 1996, he and his wife Shruti founded the PVCHR, a community-based organisation, to break the closed, feudal hierarchies of conservative slums and villages by building up local institutions and supporting them with a high profile and active human rights network.
He has become the symbol of nonviolent resistance among millions of Dalits fighting for dignity. Due to his commitment on behalf of the marginalized, he has periodically suffered death threats.
As well as being an Ashoka Fellow, Lenin was the President, United Nations’ Youth Organisation (UNYO),Uttar Pradesh (India) Chapter. Lenin’s work has been recognised with Gwangju Human Rights Award for 2007.
In 2009, in collaboration with the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victim (RCT), Denmark, Lenin developed Testimonial Models for torture survivors in India. The City Council of Weimar in Germany selected Lenin Raghuvanshi for theirInternational Human Rights Award for 2010. He was nominated for Roland Berger Human Dignity Award 2012.
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Front Line Defenders has issued urgent appeals and news items about Lenin Raghuvanshi:
2 December 2012 - Renewed death threat against human rights defender Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi
29 June 2010 -
