Ms. Thinlay Chukki is the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) for Central and Eastern Europe at the Tibet Bureau, Geneva.

She previously served as the Special Appointee for Human Rights at the Bureau (2019–2021) and as a researcher at the UN, EU, and Human Rights Desk of the CTA in Dharamshala.

Ms. Chukki is a recipient of the prestigious Tibetan Scholarship Program—equivalent to the Fulbright Scholarship—administered by the U.S. Congress, through which she earned her Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from Harvard Law School in 2018. She also holds an LL.M. in Business Laws from the National Law School of India University (2012), and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree with distinction from SDM Law College, Mangalore University, where she was awarded multiple gold medals for academic excellence. Prior to her work with the CTA, she led the Legal Department (South India) at Tata Motors Ltd. for nearly five years.

Fluent in multiple languages, Ms. Chukki has also had the distinct honor of serving as a Kannada-language translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama on several occasions since 2009. Born and raised as a Tibetan refugee in South India, Ms. Chukki’s life has been deeply shaped by her heritage. Her father served as a personal security guard to His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Tibet before fleeing into exile in 1959, while her mother, then only eight years old, escaped with her family. Though her parents were not formally literate, they placed profound emphasis on the value of learning. As Ms. Chukki often reflects, “I never describe my parents as uneducated, because to me, education is far more than mere literacy. It’s about the values you live by and the grit you carry—and my parents had those in abundance.” With her diverse professional background and deep commitment to justice and human rights, Ms. Chukki continues to be a powerful advocate for the Tibetan cause on the global stage.