Melissa Lefas

Melissa Lefas is the Chief of Strategy at the Global Center on Cooperative Security where she is responsible for overseeing programming and organizational development. She has managed programs throughout East and West Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia with a primary focus on the promotion and protection of human rights and civic space in efforts to counterterrorism. She has authored a number of reports, including as co-author of the June 2023 report “Blue Sky VI: An Independent Analysis of UN Counterterrorism Efforts”. Previously, she applied her international, human rights, and immigration legal expertise in fragile and postconflict regions in East Africa and Haiti working for a number of institutions, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. She is also on LinkedIn.