Domenica D’amico, the SPRAR/SIPROIMI Project Supervisor in Caserta
Domenica D’amico is the SPRAR/SIPROIMI Project Supervisor in Caserta. This is one of the largest projects for beneficiaries of international protection and unaccompanied foreign minors in the Campania Region and in Southern Italy.
Since 2002, she has been in charge of different projects for the defence and empowerment of refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants. She graduated in Educational Sciences and is one of the founders of the Migrants and Refugees Movement in Caserta, leading its Legal and Political Desks through the years. For the “Comitato per il Centro Sociale” and the Migrants and Refugees Movements in Caserta, she has created and managed local and national collaboration agreements with the most influential entities active in immigration and political asylum policies, including the special plan for the exploited and vulnerable in the Castel Volturno Area (S.V.I. Plan).
Co-writer of a collaboration paper with the Prosecutor’s Office in Santa Maria Capua Vetere on the matter, she has lead innovative strategies for effective policies on combating foreign labour exploitation in agriculture, and building an economic system in southern Italy.
Eldisa Cirogu
Ph.D. in Political Studies with the doctoral research project “The Development of strategies for the prevention and transformation of international conflict according to the Transcend Method” at the Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Political Sciences, Sociology and Communication.
She holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations and a Bachelor Degree in Political Science from the same university. Her expertise, research activities, and publications (books, book chapters, articles, etc.) focus on current issues of the EU integration process, circular migration, asylum seekers, and refugees, conflict studies, peace research, project writing, and media relations.
She has been involved as Project Coordinator in the “GET START: challenges always come before solutions” project, ERASMUS + KA2 – Strategic Partnerships for adult education 2016–1–IT02–KA204–024349 (best practices on reception and integration).
She has also been involved as Researcher in collaboration with Professor Sandro Guerrieri in the project “From Maastricht to the rejection of the Treaty that adopts a Constitution for Europe: resistance and obstacles in the construction of political Europe”.
She works as Project Specialist for public bodies and the private sector.
Laura Ferrara, lawyer with a Ph.D. in Theory and History of Human Rights from the University of Florence.
Elected to the European Parliament in 2014 and in 2019, she has been Vice Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee and is full member of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee as well as full member of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
She was rapporteur of the report on the situation of fundamental rights in Europe (2013 and 2014), the report on the fight against corruption and organised crime, the report on public access to documents, and the implementation report on the environmental liability directive.
She is currently rapporteur of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common procedure for international protection in the Union.
During her first mandate, she was actively involved in the negotiations on the reform of the European common asylum system.
Dott. Oliviero Forti, Head of Migration Policies and the International Protection Department at Caritas Italiana
Oliviero Forti, graduate in law at La Sapienza University in Rome, is currently head of Migration Policies and the International Protection Department at Caritas Italiana. He is also Chair of the Caritas Europa Migration Commission in Brussels. He has been involved in migration-related issues for around 20 years, first as researcher and later as consultant for several Italian universities, also writing numerous articles and publications on human mobility. In recent years, he has been mainly responsible for coordinating the territorial Caritas realities at the national level in relation to migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees, maintaining regular contact with the national and European institutions and international organizations.
At the international level, he has worked on the constitution of the European Migration Network for the European Commission. As representative of Caritas Italiana, he promoted “MigraMed”, an international annual meeting involving all the Caritas member organisations of the Mediterranean and European countries on human mobility within the Mediterranean area.
He is currently deeply involved in opening humanitarian corridors from the Horn of Africa, Middle East, and Turkey, and recently implemented a resettlement program from Jordan.
PhD and Researcher of Public Policy and a Senior Public Official -Florensa Haxhi
PhD and Researcher of Public Policy, and a Senior Public Official who covers the areas of economic development, national programming and regional cooperation. She has been the national coordinator for national strategies responsible for overseeing, as well as participating in the preparation of the National Strategy for Development and Integration, which is the main strategy of the country. She has been leading the drafting process of a number of Sector and Cross-Cutting National Strategies, mostly in the field of Justice and Home Affairs, Rule of Law and Democratization, Anti-corruption, Land, etc.
She currently holds the position of the Director General of the Development Programs and Cooperation Unit, at the Prime Minister’s Office, and is responsible of drafting a number of National Development Programs in different sectors of the economy which are translated into concrete executable national strategic projects with a direct impact to the country’s economic growth.
She is also the Program Manager of the Regional Economic Area and its Action Plan, since its creation with the focus of developing and transforming the Western Balkans region into an economic area where goods, services, people and knowledge move without borders. She is responsible for coordinating work with the relevant national and regional stakeholders involved in this process, as well as the European Commission and the Regional Cooperation Council, to ensure a successful implementation of measures under the Multiannual Action Plan, propose new regional initiatives and contribute towards the drafting and signing of regional agreements. She has represented Albania in a number of regional high level meetings and conferences.
She is also a lecturer of Project Management and Public Finance, at university (Bachelor and Master’s) level.
Lieutenant Commander (ITCG) Livio SCIROCCO, Senior Officer of the Italian Coast Guard.
In addition to his studies at the Italian Naval Academy (Livorno), he is graduate in Nautical Sciences and in Maritime and Air Technologies at Parthenope University in Naples. He is currently Head of the Maritime Safety and Security Department at the Salerno Coast Guard. He is specialized as Port State Control Officer, Duly Authorized Officer for Maritime Security, and Search and Rescue Operations Coordinator. He has been Technical Officer of the Port of Salerno and Head of the Search and Rescue Department at Molfetta and local Salerno Coast Guard offices. He is also National President of the Representative Body for the Italian Coast Guard.
In recent years, he has been involved in international missions regarding maritime safety and security matters (amongst others, China, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Korea, Europe), as well as in national operations as liaison officer for the Port of Salerno during Operation Mare Nostrum. He has work experience with international teams, especially the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).
Finally, he is expert in International Codes and Conventions on navigation safety, and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea where he has held several conferences.
Avv. Simona Libera Scocozza | Criminal and immigration lawyer
Immigration law experience from 2009 to 2017: representative of the Diocese of Salerno at the National Immigration Coordination Table of Caritas Italiana; coordinator of the Campania Group in the First Italian Homeless Census of Caritas Italiana and Istat; coordinator of the legal department of the Caritas Diocesana of Salerno; coordinator of the Mondialità Group specialized in projects to raise awareness on immigration, social, political, and economic issues in Third World countries.
Since 2015, partner at GMS Legal Consulting and referent for the immigration sector and relations with foreign clients.
PhD student in Comparative Law at the Department of Political Sciences of the University of Salerno. Expert in private law and comparative law on information and communication at the Department of Political and Communication Sciences of the University of Salerno.
Since 2017, partner at ASGI – Association of Legal Studies on Immigration.
Since October 2018, legislative consultant at the Senate of the Italian Republic, participating in the drafting of opinions and amendments to decree 113/2018 (Italian Decree on Security and Immigration, and bis).
Mersiha Smailović, human rights activist, lawyer, and President of NGO LEGIS
Mersiha graduated from Ss. Cyril and Methodius at the University of Law, and currently doing her master’s study on International law, at the same University. She participated in the Vital Voices Advocates Empowerment Project in the Balkans in 2019 GBV among refugees and migrants.
She is active in the field of advocating for the rights of refugees and migrants, discrimination against Muslims and Islamophobia, gender equality, rights of ethnic groups etc.
As a part of NGO LEGIS, she is publishing monthly and yearly reports about the situation of the refugee and migrants in North Macedonia. Her research papers on the refugee rights, islamophobia, women rights were published in several local and international publications.
She was actively involved in numerous humanitarian missions globally. Mersiha has been awarded for her activism for the right of refugees, also for her involvement of promotion of human rights on focus of women in Macedonian society.
AESI (European Association of International Studies)
AESI (European Association of International Studies) is a non-profit cultural association, independent from political parties and any kind of political movement, which has as its main objective the promotion of human rights within the framework of international politics and cooperation.
AESI regularly organises seminars, courses, and conferences on world crisis issues, underdevelopment problems, the history of treaties, and international relations.
Avvocato di strada Onlus
Free legal assistance for homeless people.
Consiglio dell’ordine degli Avvocati di Salerno
The European Law Students’ Association (ELSA)
The European Law Students’ Association (ELSA) is an international, independent, non-political, non-profit making organisation run by and for students and recent graduates, who are interested in achieving academic and personal excellence in addition to their legal or law-related studies at university.
ELSA aims at providing its members a platform to develop their existing skills and acquire new ones, to interact with fellow students and experienced practitioners from different states and legal systems around Europe, and to be equipped for a professional life in an international environment, through mutual understanding, intercultural cooperation and the large variety of activities and projects the Association offers.
Italian Federation for Human Rights
The Italian Federation for Human Rights – Italian Helsinki Committee (under the acronym, FIDU) is a Third Sector organization, i.e., a non-profit civil society organization.
Active since 6 October 1987 as the Italian Helsinki Committee, FIDU promotes the protection of human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights of 1966, the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe of 1975, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union of 2007, and other relevant international documents. FIDU therefore intends to work to spread knowledge of human rights, monitor and report their violations, create greater awareness in public opinion, and exert influence on the States so that they comply with their own commitments on human rights.
Camera Penale Salernitana
aderente all’Unione Camere Penali Italiane
Macedonian Yound Lawyers Association
Macedonian Young Lawyers Association (MYLA) is an independent, non-profit professional organization founded in 2003 in North Macedonia, which provides legal aid and strategically litigates to protect human rights.
Equipped with the knowledge and innovative capacities of young lawyers, MYLA promotes the rule of law and influences policy through research and advocacy. MYLA is an authorized provider of legal aid. MYLA’s pool of attorneys from all regions in Macedonia and in-house lawyers provide legal aid and representation in areas related to access to justice, human rights, anti-discrimination, legal aid for persons in extreme poverty, asylum, migration, and statelessness issues.
The organization’s work focuses on:
1) Legal aid and strategic litigation;
2) Capacity building;
3) Research, policy, and advocacy.
MYLA is actively engaged on areas that include the topics migration and asylum, statelessness, discrimination, free legal aid, trafficking of persons and smuggling, improvement of polices and legal regulations and strategies of state institutions and judiciary.
