Richard L. Benkin, Ph.D. drrbenkin@comcast.net Also on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

Current Experience

  • Independent Human Rights Activist

  • Expert legal witness regarding South Asia, and its peoples, and asylum requests.

  • Freelance Writer and Speaker

  • Frequent contributor to journals and newspapers worldwide, print and online.

  • Frequent radio guest in the United States, Canada, India, and Israel.

  • Co-Founder & President, Forcefield, NFP

  • Founder, Interfaith Strength

  • Provides information and or testimony to the governments of India and the United States.

Business and Academic Experience

  • January 2020: Residency Northeast India Company, Silchar, Assam

  • 2001-2018: Vice President; Gallagher Bassett Services, Itasca, IL

  • 1987-2000: Consultant; Owner/Operator of health care facilities.

  • 1980-1994: College Lecturer

  • 1980-1987: Community Activist; Manager, Professional Health Care

  • 1974-1980: Assistant Professor/Faculty at various American universities, including DePaul University, Roosevelt University, Camden County College; University of Pennsylvania (as a graduate student)

  • 2005--current : Guest lecturer on human rights and geopolitics at University of Lucknow; Delhi University; Jawaharlal Nehru University (Delhi); American University (Washington, DC); Gautam Buddha University (Greater Noida); Osmania University (Hyderabad); Andhra Vidyalaya College and Post Graduate Center (Hyderabad); Dhaka University; Assam University; Netaji Subhash Mahavidyalaya (Tripura); Bidhan Chandra College (West Bengal); K D College of Commerce & General Studies (West Bengal). In 2024, by invitation, gave address to students and faculty at four West Bengal colleges, including near the border with Bangladesh: Hiralal Mazumder Memorial College for Women; Netaji Satabarshiki Mahavidyalaya; Mrinalini Datta Mahavidypith; Bidhan Chandra College.

Board Positions, Memberships, etc.

  • Special Advisor to America Resurgent (formerly The Intelligence Summit) on Bangladeshi Affairs

  • Member Islam-Israel Fellowship Council

  • Advisory Board Member Bangladesh Minority Lawyers Association

  • Member, South Asia Forum

  • Member, StandWithUs Chicago Advisory Board

  • International Advisor, Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajote (Bangladesh National Hindu Grand Alliance)

  • International Ambassador, Bangladesh International Mediation Society

  • Board Member and Head of Candidate Research Committee, To Protect Our Heritage PAC

  • Editorial Board, Index Centre for Research Journals

  • Board Member, Foreign Policy School of the Foreign Policy Research Centre, New Delhi, India

Selected Publications 

  • The Social and Cultural Development of Jewish Communities in Eastern Europe, 1976 Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan Press

  • Sociology: A Way of Seeing, 1980, Wadsworth Publishing Company

  • The Battle Beneath Jerusalem, 2009, Dhaka Press

  • A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing: the Murder of Bangladesh’s Hindus, 2012; Akshaya Prakasahan

  • "Ethnic Cleansing: The Neglected Case of the Hindus of Bangladesh", State, Society, and Minorities in South and Southeast Asia, edited by Sunil Kukreja, 2015; Lexington Books

  • What is Moderate Islam (editor and contributor), 2017, Lexington Books

  • “Deadly Persecution: Minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh and Minorities in India,” in Human Security in Asia - Interrogating State, Society, and Policy, edited by Debasish Nandy and Debtanu Majee, Palgrave Macmillan: Singapore, 2024.

Selected Accomplishments

  • Fought for and secured the release of pro-Israel Muslim journalist imprisoned and tortured in Bangladesh, and prevented several attempts at re-incarceration.

  • Secured safe release of innocents from Bangladesh’s notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), whose detainees tend to “disappear.”

  • Stopped anti-Israel conference at an official Australian building.

  • Helped secure permanent bail for writer charged with “blasphemy.” (Currently working to have charges dropped.)

  • Instrumental in securing 2015 & 2018 US Congressional hearings on persecution of Bangladesh’s Hindus.

  • Provided the evidence that led Congressman Robert Dold to be the first person to address the ethnic cleansing of Bangladesh’s Hindus from the floor of the United States Congress.

  • In a meeting with the US Congress, got the Bangladeshi government to admit its complicity in the persecution of Hindus.

  • Organized joint efforts among Baloch, Pashtun, and Sindhi for self-determination and stopping their persecution.

  • Placing persecution of Bangladeshi Hindus and freedom for Pashtun and others in Pakistan on US government radar.

  • Keynote speaker at think tank, Debt Trap Diplomacy & Regional Threat, Dhaka, April 2019.

  • Worked with Hindu and Jewish communities to defeat anti-India resolution in Chicago City Council, February 2021.

  • Provided Senate Committee on Foreign Relations information on Bangladesh for ambassadorial confirmation hearings, 2021.

  • Founded South Asia Working Group of quasi governmental International Religious Freedom Roundtable, 2021.

  • Led panel of experts on Bangladesh as part of International Religious Freedom Summit, Washington, DC, 2021.

  • Working with multiple countries since 2021 to help former US allies and others escape the Taliban and Afghanistan.

  • Helping to secure and save Afghan women’s rights activists.

Selected Recognition

  • Special US Congressional Recognition, 2005

  • Honoree and Speaker Bangladesh Minorities Lawyers Association, Supreme Court Building, Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 2007

  • Special Recognition 2007, Bangladesh Editors Forum

  • Special Recognition 2007, Bangladesh Minority Lawyers Association

  • Delivered annual Arvind Ghosh Memorial Lecture, Suburban Chicago, 2008

  • Featured Speaker, "Jewish Response to Jihad: What India can Learn," Supreme Court Building, New Delhi, India, March 2009

  • Recognized for "Significant Contributions to Community Service" by Telugu Association of North America, July 2009 & 2011

  • Recipient, Vishwa Hindu Ratna (World's Jewel of Hinduism Award), 2010

  • Keynote Speaker, Third Anniversary rally of Hindu Samhati, Kolkata, February 14, 2011 (Addressed subsequent Hindu Samhati rallies in Kolkata 2013 and 2015; with audiences in excess of 30,000.)

  • Addressed Hindu Mahasabha, Houston, TX 2012 & 2016.

  • Addressed Human Rights Center for Bangladesh, Dallas, TX, 2013

  • Addressed Americans for Free Speech, University of Pennsylvania, Phila., March 23, 2013

  • Addressed Bharatiya Vichar Manch, Jagriti, and Kashmiri Pandits, Cerritos, CA, July 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

  • Received Proclamation by Mount Prospect, IL, recognizing persecution of Bangladeshi Hindus, 1 October 2013

  • Addressed Hindu Unity Conference, Bensenville, IL, 2015

  • Addressed Hindu Jewish Alliance, Bensenville, IL, 2015

  • Received Hindu Bandu Award from Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, 2015

  • Exclusive guest on NPR’s “Common Threads” for two weeks, November 2016

  • Keynote speaker “Baluchistan Geo-Politics and Identity,” Bangkok, 2016.

  • Addressed Afghan/Pashtun gathering, London, 2017

  • Addressed World Sindhi Congress, London, 2017

  • Addressed World Hindu Federation, Varanaisi, 2017

  • Organized and led "Getting to Know You," a meeting of StandWithUs, Baloch, Pashtuns, Sindhi, London, 2018

  • Addressed numerous university and organizational webinars during COVID-19 pandemic, 2020

  • Professor Ved P. Nanda Fellowship Program in Human Rights lecturer, May 27, 2022.

  • Key Speaker, Pashtun Security Dialogue, September 28, 2024.

  • Quarterly contributor to India’s Foreign Policy Research Centre journal.

  • Asked to participate as Bangladesh and South Asia expert by NDTV, India’s most watched news network on and off line.

For a more comprehensive list of publications and addresses, visit http://www.interfaithstrength.com/.

Education

Received my B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, attending the Wharton School, College of Arts and Sciences, and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences