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Blog Posts by Melanie Teff

Dominican Republic: Of Baseball Players and Birth Certificates
August 13, 2009 Melanie Teff Dominican Republic, Statelessness
U.S. major league baseball teams recently started requiring potential players and their parents to undergo DNA testing to prove who recruits are – an attempt to try to ensure that they aren't understating their age in order to win more lucrative contracts. Fortunately there is a better, cheaper and more reliable way to confirm age and identity. It’s called birth registration.
Iran: Iranian authorities must free Shadi Sadr
July 22, 2009 Melanie Teff Iran
Shadi Sadr, a remarkable Iranian women’s rights activist, was beaten and arrested on Friday July 17 and is being held in detention. I met Shadi at a conference last year and was struck by her courage and quiet determination that over time her work as a human rights lawyer and peaceful campaigner would bring more respect for women’s rights in Iran.
Sudan: Huge divide to breach
June 26, 2009 Melanie Teff South Sudan, Sudan, Humanitarian Response, Protection & Security

On Tuesday the Obama administration convened an international conference to seek renewed commitment to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between north and south Sudan. The next day I attended a meeting where representatives of northern and southern Sudan gave their perspectives on the outcomes of the conference. It was supposed to be a time for showing the world how much agreement there was between the parties. Yet, in this short meeting, the parties were unable to conceal their disagreements and significant distrust of each other.
Iraq: Finding a Future for the Iraqi Palestinians
June 15, 2009 Melanie Teff Iraq, Syria, Neglected Crises, Statelessness
I watched President Obama’s Cairo speech about US relations with the Muslim world while in the “no man’s land” between the Syrian and Iraqi border-posts. Seven hundred and eighty Iraqi Palestinian refugees are currently forced to stay in this inhospitable stretch of desert known as Al-Tanf camp. They are confined to this small area – in effect living in a prison camp.
South Sudan: No information, no protection
April 06, 2009 Melanie Teff South Sudan, Sudan, Protection & Security

When we met with a group of 300 Ethiopian Anyuak refugees in February in Sudan, we had no idea that a week later they would be calling us because they were caught up in heavy fighting between northern and southern Sudanese forces. The Government of Southern Sudan and the United Nations had failed to protect them.

The group had fled in 2003 after their community suffered targeted attacks in Ethiopia. Their experience since arriving in Sudan had not been a good one. They had been forced to move twice after harassment and attacks. Their last move was in December 2008, to the town of Malakal, where they were taken in by a church. All 300 people slept there for weeks, living in dangerously overcrowded conditions. Then the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) found them a temporary place to stay at their way station – a facility which is set up for Sudanese returnees to stay in for a night or two while they await transport back to their home villages.