Melanie Teff began her work as an Advocate with Refugees International in July 2007. She has conducted missions to Liberia, northern Uganda, the Dominican Republic, northern Iraq, Syria, Colombia, Sudan. Ms. Teff spent two years in the Solomon Islands with VSO. She then spent three years as a human rights advocacy trainer in the Dominican Republic. Ms. Teff later established and coordinated the international advocacy and policy office for Jesuit Refugee Service in Rome, where she worked between 2003 and 2006. She has also co-coordinated the International Coalition on the Detention of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants. Prior to her international work, Ms Teff spent eight years as a lawyer in England with a focus on child rights, child abuse, and legal cases involving family law. Ms. Teff has a Master of Laws degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex. She is a British citizen and is fluent in Spanish.