Sunita Viswanath is the Executive Director of Hindus for Human Rights.She has worked for over 30 years in women’s rights and human rights organizations. Sunita co-founded Hindus for Human Rights in June 2019, and also serves as a board member.
In 2001, Sunita co-founded the international women’s human rights organization, Women for Afghan Women (WAW), and served as Board Chair of WAW until January 2022. She has been an advisory board member to Unfreeze Afghanistan since its inception in September 2021, and cofounded Abaad: Afghan Women Forward in August 2022. Sunita has edited “Women for Afghan Women: Shattering Myths and Claiming the Future” (Palgrave McMillan, 2003), a book of essays. For her work with WAW, Sunita was awarded the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Global Women’s Rights Award in 2011. Sunita co-founded Sadhana in 2011 in order to mobilize Hindu Americans to connect their faith to social justice and human rights, and serves on Sadhana’s Executive Board.
She was honored by President Obama at the White House in 2015 as a “Champion of Change” for her work with Sadhana. In 2021, Sunita was recognized by Center for American Progress as one of 21 “faith leaders to watch.” Previously, Sunita worked with The Sister Fund and the Funders Concerned About AIDS. Sunita is an advisory board member of Population Media Center, which uses entertainment-education and mass media to promote social and cultural change. Sunita is a board member of Dalit Solidarity Forum. Sunita is one of five Hindus appointed to NYC Mayor-Elect Eric Adams’ Faith Transition Team; and the only Hindu in the December 2021 Marquis Who’s Who list of faith-based influencers. Sunita lives in Brooklyn, NY and Taos, NM with her husband Stephan Shaw, their sons Satya, Akash and Gautama, and her parents.