Chithue Sonam MONKHAR, born in Gyantse, fled to India through Bhutan in autumn 1959 when Communist China occupied Tibet. He studied at the Central School for Tibetans in Mussoorie where he was (Chupon) group leader, class monitor, house vice-captain, assistant librarian and in-charge of sound system of the school.

After completing school he joined Hans Raj College, Delhi University, in 1970 for BA (hons.) and MA degrees in history. During college days he was general secretary of Regional Committee of Tibetan Youth Congress in Delhi and a member of Hans Raj College Chhatra Sansad (Students Parliament). He volunteered with other Tibetan students at the university to teach children of Tibetan Refugee camp at Majnu-ka-Tila in Delhi during the weekends.  In June 1973 the Tibetan government assigned him to work at Bureau of H.H. the Dalai Lama in New Delhi. In November 1976 he was sent to France along with three other Tibetans for further studies. After learning French, he studied International Relations at Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. He was a councillor of Tibetan Community in France. During semester holidays he helped the Offices of Tibet in Switzerland and United Kingdom, especially for the visits of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in these countries.

He worked from 1986 -1988 at the Office of Tibet in Zurich. From 1990 till May 2006, he taught voluntarily Tibetan to the Tibetan children in Zurich. Since 1996 he is member of editorial board of Newsletter of Tibetan Community in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. With Sangling Tsering Dorjee, a former Representative of H.H. the Dalai Lama in Europe, he founded Potala Tibet Help Association, a charity, helping Tibetan children with their education. The charity has been paying school fees of over 40 Tibetan children in Nepal through the Office of Tibet in Kathmandu. In 2000 he was elected to the local election committee in Switzerland. In May 2006 he took oath of deputy representing Tibetans in Europe in the 14th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile in Dharamsala.