DR LOBSANG SANGAY

Dr. Lobsang Sangay is a Research Associate at Harvard Law School.

EDUCATION: He attended the Central School for Tibetans (CST) in Sonada and Darjeeling and completed his B.A. (Honors) in English Literature (1988-1991) and his Bachelor in Law (LLB 1991-1994), from Delhi University.

In 1995, Dr. Sangay was selected as a Fulbright Scholar and obtained his Masters degree at Harvard Law School. His thesis was on Buddhism and Human Rights. In the summer of 1996, he received a fellowship from the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva, Switzerland and helped research the report Tibet: Human Rights and Rule of Law, which was published in 1997. In 1996, he received a prestigious Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Pacific Basin Research Center and wrote a chapter on the Tibetan Educational System for a book titled Human Rights and Human Values in Asia-Pacific Region.

In 1997, Tibet Fund and the Fulbright Program supported his pursuit for Ph.D. degree and Harvard Law School provided scholarship. In 2004, he earned his Doctorate in Law from Harvard Law School, becoming the first Tibetan to receive this degree. His Doctorate dissertation, titled Democracy and History of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile from 1959-2004 was awarded the Yong K. Kim' 95 Prize for excellence.

In 2004, he informed the Education Department about completion of his doctorate degree, ongoing projects and sought guidance. On 17-6-2005, the Sherig Lekhung responded by recognizing his academic work as equivalent to the community service, thereby waiving his bond. The Fulbright Program strongly supported the decision and on 13-2-2007, the US State Department granted him a visa waiver. Harvard Law School appointed him as a Fellow and promoted to Senior Fellow in 2008. He still carries his IC (Identity Certificate).

ACTIVISM: Dr. Sangay served as the Vice-President, Gen. Secretary and President of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress in Delhi from 1988-91. One of the highlights as an activist was serving more than a week in Tihar Jail in Delhi for disruptive protests in front of the Chinese Embassy demanding for explanation surrounding the unexpected passing away of the Panchen Lama. Also along with four colleagues of RTYC, he confronted agents of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and handed over the seized documents to the Tibetan Government in Exile. In 1992, the General Body Meeting elected him as the youngest executive member of the Central Executive of the Tibetan Youth Congress where he served in the capacity of Information Secretary (CENTREX). From 1995-97, he participated in conferences at Harvard, Oberlin and Brown University in launching the Students for a Free Tibet. In 1997, Dr. Sangay along with local Tibetans and 24 activist groups coalition organized the largest protest since Vietnam era against the Chinese president Jiang Zemin during his visit to Harvard University.

He received a Diploma in Environmental Law from the World Wide Fund and also a Diploma from the Fletcher Summer Institute for the Advanced Study of Non-Violent Conflict.

CHINESE OUTREACH: In the last fifteen years, he has interacted, discussed and debated various aspects of Tibet from historical status, occupation, to the present colonialism, His Holiness advocacy of Middle Way and diverse views within the society with numerous Chinese scholars from top universities in China. He is well versed in contemporary Chinese politics and legal issues. In an effort to promote Track II Diplomacy, Dr. Sangay has organized seven major conferences among Chinese, Tibetan, Indian and Western scholars, on contemporary Tibet. He organized two unprecedented meetings between HH the Dalai Lama and Chinese scholars: in 2003 where 35 Chinese scholars participated, and another in May 2009 when His Holiness met with more than hundred scholars from China at Harvard University. Dr. Sangay trains Tibetan youth and students on effective interaction with Chinese students/people.

INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH: In 2007, he was selected as one of the twenty-four Young Leaders of Asia by the Asia Society, the New York-based global organization promoting understanding between North America and Asia. In recent years, Dr. Sangay has participated in Young Asian Leaders Summit in South Korea; Singapore; Japan; Thailand, Malaysia, and India.

He was given a Leadership Award by Regional New England Amnesty International, Peace and Justice Award by the Peace Commission of City of Cambridge, and is an Advisory Board member of the Asian American Civic Association. He is a regular participant of the World Justice Forum where top legal experts, judges and officials from around the world congregate in Vienna, Austria.

In April 2008, he testified as an expert before the US Senate Foreign Relations Sub-committee on East Asia and Pacific Affairs, along with the United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Special Envoy of the Dalai Lama Lodi Gyari, and Actor Richard Gere. The Washington DC-based think tank Woodrow Wilson Center organized an event where Dr. Sangay debriefed Congressional staff members on the issue of Tibet.

As an expert on Tibet, international human rights law, democratic constitutionalism, and conflict resolution, Dr. Sangay has given lectures on Sino-Tibet issues in various universities, think tanks and other public forums in Europe, Asia and North America such as Ecole des Hautes Etudes En Sciences Sociales in Paris, University of Westminster, London, University of Deakin, Melbourne, University of Madrid, IIT Madras, Taiwan University, Peking University, Carter Center, Woodrow Wilson Center, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and many other institutes in the US.

He has been consulted by the news media, including The New York Times, The London Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Newsweek, TIME Magazine, Washington Post, USA Today, the Boston Globe, Harvard Crimson, among others. His articles about Tibet have been published in the Harvard Asia Quarterly, Journal of Democracy, East Asia and International Law and chapters in several books.

TIBETAN OUTREACH: Dr. Sangay continues to interact with Tibetan students and scholars from Tibet in the US. He helped his late uncle with a project to plant 400,000 fruit and income generating trees (Walnut, Apple, Peach) in a deforested area of Tibet. Also helped train a dozen Tibetan medicine doctors for villages in Tibet.

Dr. Sangay coordinated two visits by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New England area (2003 & 2009). He is an editorial consultant for Radio Free Asia and continues his popular weekly radio program on Democracy and Rule of Law, for the past thirteen years. He authored a book on Introduction to Human Rights in Tibetan language.

In completing his Ph.D dissertation, for seven years he spent long hours interviewing and compiling testimonies of around 100 Tibetans, including Kundeling Kunho, Kunho Tara, Sandhutsang Rinchen, Lobsang Thargay, many chitues, activists and not to mention Samdhong Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His doctorate dissertation covered 45 years of exile history including an evolution of duality of Tibetan movement on the one hand and democratic initiatives on the other, parliamentary process, election mechanism, constitutional drafting, secularism and non-sectarianism, and formation of NGOs like the Tibetan Youth Congress and Tibetan Women Association. He has published and given numerous talks on these issues around the world.

He regularly visits Dharamsala, and interacts with Tibetan officials at every level. He is consulted by and has given numerous workshops and lectures over the years to the Tibetan government officials, the Parliamentarian Conclave (Chitue), members of Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Womens Association, students, activists and various other institutions in Dharamsala and beyond. Before and since coming to the US, he has visited more than three dozen Shichaks, schools and monasteries. He also gives lectures and workshops for Tibetan organizations around the world to create awareness about Tibet and encourage younger generation to commit to education. Dr. Sangay also coordinates a Tibetan Nutrition Project helping dozen CST schools in India under the supervision of the Department of Education, Dharamsala.

He continues to engage with Indian scholars, officials and friends from India.

PERSONAL: Dr. Lobsang Sangay was born in a village in Darjeeling in 1968 with a typical Shichak background amidst fields, cows, chicken, fetching wood in the forest and helping his parent's small business including winter sweater selling. Presently, he lives in greater Boston area in the US. His mother Kelsang Choden from Chamdo lives with him and his father passed way in 2004. He is married to Kesang Yangdon Shakchang, whose parents were from Lhokha and Phare. They have been together for 13 years and have a three-year-old daughter.

Dr. Lobsang Sangay speaks Tibetan, English, Hindi, Nepali and rudimentary Pema Koepa and some Chinese. When not working tirelessly for Tibet, he can be seen frequenting gyms, swimming, and reading.