Otgontuya Davaanyam - Global Challenges Scholar
Otgontuya Davaanyam can proudly say that she is from Land of Blue Sky, Mongolia. She is a dedicated lawyer who believes that with passion and education, anyone can make a difference in the world. As it says in one of the Mongolian proverbs 'First fix yourself, then fix your family, then fix your Government', today, in Swansea, with the help from the Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sky Global Challenges Scholarship, she is educating and working on herself every day to become the best version of herself so that she can help the most vulnerable in her home country and around the world.
Educational and Career Background
Otgontuya graduated from Shihihutug Law University with an LL.B in Business Law. After obtaining her law degree, she worked for one of the leading commercial companies in Mongolia as a corporate lawyer. Having been admitted to the Mongolian Bar Association, she decided to continue her legal career in the international law firm Anderson and Anderson where she represented clients before international arbitration centres, including the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and the London Court of International Arbitration.
While she continued her career in business law, she actively engaged in the events of the Pro Bono Lawyers' Committee of the Mongolian Bar Association. After working as a lawyer for 5 years in the business sector, Otgontuya wanted to shift her career to human rights so that she could work for the community more closely. Thanks to the support of the Hodgson Law Scholarship, she obtained her first master's degree in laws in International Human Rights Law from the University of Liverpool. When she studied human rights law, she became more passionate about business and human rights issues, thus she worked for the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre in London as a corporate legal accountability intern. Moreover, her passion to work on modern slavery and child labour led her to be interned in the Fifty Eight company to work on the UKAid child labour project.
Areas of Expertise
Otgontuya's research interest lies in the field of business and human rights area – particularly corporate human rights violations in the global supply chain, business impact on climate change as well as on children’s rights.
Her previous dissertation examined how corporations can be held accountable for their influence on child labour situations in the cocoa industry. Moreover, at Swansea University, her recent research project focuses on the analysis of international legal tools and practices related to the business and human rights to effectively address human rights violations in the global supply chain.
Ambitions and Hopes for the Future
"After completing the Global Challenges Programme, I would like to practice what I have learned during this program. This program has equipped me with strong passion and knowledge to work for many daunting global challenges, therefore I would like to be recruited in the international organisation or the corporate, where there will be an opportunity to face such global issues at the ground level. More specifically, firstly, I would like to challenge myself in an international organisation so that I can contribute my knowledge in international law and regulation in relation to business and human rights issues or climate change.
After having enough experience at the international level, I would like to practice my experience and knowledge to resolve the challenging issues in my home country. I want to fight against extreme poverty, violence towards children and women. In the end, I want to be a woman like Hillary Clinton, to become an example for many Mongolian women so that they will empower themselves and become a part of the mission to change our country."
