Unione forense per la tutela dei diritti umani

PROFILE

The Unione forense per la tutela dei diritti umani is an association of lawyers founded on March 2, 1968, with the aim of “spreading the knowledge of domestic and international norms concerning the protection of human rights and promoting their concrete and effective observance in judicial, extrajudicial, administrative and legislative proceedings” (art. 2 of the Statute).

The current President of UFDU is Anton Giulio Lana, lawyer and university professor. The association operates in many Italian regions thanks to the work that its detached sections carry out to ensure the effective implementation of the protection of human rights. The sections activated so far are located in Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Lombardia, Marche, Piemonte, Puglia, Sardegna, Sicilia, Toscana, Trentino Alto Adige, Umbria and Veneto.

To achieve its goals, UFDU has identified two main strategic areas of action over the years:

EDUCATION | ADVOCACY

Each activity of the association is related to a specific strategic area and always has the promotion and guarantee of the universal exercise of human rights, the driving force behind all the activities of the association, as its ultimate goal.

Within the two areas, the association has paid particular attention to some specific rights, considered a priority for the importance they hold in the Italian and international context:

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION | IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM | RIGHT TO HEALTH | RIGHTS OF THE CHILD | FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND OF EXPRESSION | STATELESSNESS

The collaboration with UNAR and the enrollment in the “Register of associations and bodies that carry out activities in the field of the fight against discrimination” have proved invaluable to substantiate UFDU’s intentions. The inclusion in the UNAR Register also enables the association to hold the title of body registered in the list of associations entitled to act in the name and on behalf of or in support of those subject to discriminatory acts as disciplined in art. 5 of Legislative Decree no. 215 of July 9, 2003.

A particularly important asset of the Association is represented by the network of connections with jurists and human rights activists of European countries and those that are part of the Mediterranean basin. UFDU’s initiative to create a Permanent Commission on Human Rights in the Mediterranean, whose statute has already been approved by independent jurists of high prestige from many countries in Northern and Southern Europe, has led to considerable interest in the field.

UFDU has also established collaborative relationships with various international organizations, in particular the Council of Europe, the European Union and the OSCE, participating in various institutional activities (fact-finding, election monitoring, etc.).

Furthermore, the association:

  • is an affiliated member of the Fédération International des Droits de l’Homme and has carried out numerous activities in collaboration with it since then;
  • has joined IDHAE, the Institute for Human Rights of European Lawyers, and it has been invited to join its Board of Directors. The President of the Association is currently Vice-President of IDHAE. Two members of the Unione are permanent members of the Jury of the Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize “Lawyers’ Tribute to a Lawyer”, created in 1985 and presented, that same year, to the family of Nelson Mandela;

In order to widen the spectrum of possibilities and make its action more incisive on the social fabric, UFDU is registered in the “Register of Associations dealing with immigration” at regional and national level.

STATUTE AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

DOWNLOAD STATUTE

STATUTORY BODIES

 

President | Lawyer and professor Anton Giulio Lana

Vicepresidents | | Professor Matteo Carbonelli | Lawyer Maurizio de Stefano

Secretary-General | Lawyer Mario Melillo

Treasurer | Lawyer Francesco Rosi

Members of the Steering Committee | Professor Angela Cossiri | Lawyer Maria Paola Costantini | Lawyer Isabella De Angelis | Lawyer Marilena Giungato | Lawyer Fabio Gullotta | Professor Lawyer Christopher Hein | Professor Fabio Marcelli | Lawyer Evelina Rosania | Professor Lawyer Andrea Saccucci | Lawyer Alessio Sangiorgi | Lawyer Antonella Succi | Lawyer Francesca Toppetti | Dott.ssa Lucia Tria | Dott. Giorgio Zanchini

Members of the Advisory Committee | Professor Guido Alpa | Sen. Professor Lawyer Guido Calvi | On. Professor Giancarla Codrignani | Professor Fabrizio Criscuolo | Professor Pasquale De Sena | Professorssa Angela Di Stasi | Professor Filippo Donati | Professor Giorgio Gaja | Professor Sergio Marchisio | Professor Fausto Pocar | Professorssa Carmela Panella | Professor Ugo Villani |  President Vladimiro Zagrebelsky | Professor Claudio Zanghì

 

staff

 

Public relations and press | Gioia Silvagni

Accounting office | Antonella Saviola

Management secretariat | Paola Curci

Networking

A particularly important asset of the Association is represented by the network of connections with jurists and human rights activists of European countries and those that are part of the Mediterranean basin. UFDU’s initiative to create a Permanent Commission on Human Rights in the Mediterranean, whose statute has already been approved by independent jurists of high prestige from many countries in Northern and Southern Europe, has led to considerable interest in the field.

UFDU has also established collaborative relationships with various international organizations, in particular:

It is an affiliated member of the Fédération International des Droits de l’Homme and has carried out numerous activities in collaboration with it since then.

It has joined IDHAE, the Institute for Human Rights of European Lawyers, and it has been invited to join its Board of Directors. The President of the association is a permanent member of the Jury of the Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize “Lawyers’ Tribute to a Lawyer”, created in 1985 and presented, that same year, to the family of Nelson Mandela.