Raising the Bar on Human Rights in India

New brochure published by the Church of Scientology features a profile of Youth for Human Rights India and its work to make human rights an everyday reality for all people of the country.

India, a nation of more than 1.2 billion and the world’s largest democracy, is a nation struggling with a broad range of human rights issues.

Some 30 percent of the population lives below the international poverty line. Institutionalized discrimination still exists in the specter of the caste system and is also leveled against women and religious minorities. And law enforcement comes under fire for acting contrary to or not enforcing human rights standards.

But a growing number of Indian youth and adults are members of Youth for Human Rights (YHR) India, a human rights organization supported by the Church of Scientology that promotes human rights education to change the attitudes that foster discrimination and injustice.

Youth for Human Rights India has expanded to 120 chapters and affiliated groups, with thousands of youth from across the country participating through social media.

Partnering with organizations such as the nonprofit Jyoti Foundation, YHR India has facilitated human rights education to thousands of students and police cadets and generated more than 10,000 online requests for materials.

Ten thousand police cadets have been trained in YHR’s materials and the military has used them to teach human rights. YHR India and its partners have conducted seminars for tens of thousands of people and thousands of youth march through the streets of 30 cities and villages each December 10, Human Rights Day, to press for mandatory human rights education in every school in India.

In March 2013, young human rights advocates from throughout India traveled to the southern city of Chennai to participate in the South Asia Human Rights Regional Summit where they networked with YHR members from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as England and the United States. They participated in workshops and seminars and formulated plans to further expand their activities to make human rights an everyday reality for all the people of India.

Scientologists on five continents engage in collaborative efforts with government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to bring about broad-scale awareness and implementation of the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world’s premier human rights document. To learn more, visit Scientology.org/HumanRights.

Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream,” and the Scientology religion is based on the principles of human rights. The Code of a Scientologist calls on all members of the religion to dedicate themselves “to support true humanitarian endeavors in the fields of human rights.”