CIRDUIS - Interuniversity Research Center on Human Rights and Immigration and Asylum Law

The Inter-University Center for Research on Human Rights, Immigration and Aliens' Rights- CIRDUIS (Center for Human Rights and Immigration Law-CHRIL) was created in 2008 for the initiative of some professors of legal subjects of the University of Siena, Naples "Federico II", Naples "L'Orientale" and the Second University of Naples (now University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"). It was formally established by a Convention stipulated between the Rectors of these four universities and has its administrative headquarters at the University of Siena, Department of Political and International Sciences. Subsequently, in 2011, the Universities of Foggia and LUISS Guido Carli also joined CIRDUIS/CHRIL, with a deed supplementing the aforementioned Convention. In 2017, a new Convention was signed between the six universities for the renewal of CIRDUIS/CHRIL.

The following are organs of the Center: a) the Director; b) the Board of Directors and its Secretary; c) the Technical-Scientific Committee; d) the Assembly.

The Center is a unitary centre for research, training and consultancy on human rights, immigration and the condition of foreigners from a legal and institutional point of view, with particular attention to the problems of public and private international law, European Union law, Italian constitutional and comparative law and criminal law. The main activities of the Center are the following: a) to deepen research on the thematic areas indicated above and better specified in Article 3 of the founding Convention; b) to organize, in these areas, conferences, lectures and seminars, as well as to promote and edit scientific publications; c) to organize training and professional updating courses; d) to provide advice to public and private subjects or bodies, both public and private, on the matters within the Center's competence; e) to cooperate with other centres, institutions or bodies, Italian or foreign, that carry out activities similar to those of CIRDUIS/CHRIL.

Since its establishment, CIRDUIS/CHRIL has organised a number of lectures and scientific symposia, including the following because of their importance: 1) "Fundamental rights of immigrants: Family unity and protection of minors"- Siena (27-28 November 2009); 2) "The right to pluralism of information in Europe and Italy"- Rome (22 March 2012); "Immigration and right to citizenship" - Procida (11-12 July 2014), in collaboration with the New York Law School; 3) "Global Justice, Human Rights and the Modernization of International Law"- Siena (19-20 May 2017); 4) "Racial discrimination between law, ethics and science"- Siena (19 January 2019) (with the participation of Enzo Cheli, Riccardo Pisillo Mazzeschi, Ugo Villani, Paolo Caretti, Telmo Pievani, Massimo Cacciari, Gad Lerner).

Some of these conferences were at the origin of the following collective volumes, promoted by CIRDUIS/CHRIL:

1. R. Pisillo Mazzeschi, P. Pustorino, A. Viviani (ed.), Diritti umani degli immigrati. Tutela della famiglia e dei minori, Editoriale Scientifica, Naples, 2010, pp. XII-367. With chapters written by: E. Cheli, R. Pisillo Mazzeschi, R. Borrello, M. Manetti, A. Adinolfi, G. Cataldi, A. Liguori, L. Chieffi, P. Pustorino, A. Viviani, A. Patroni Griffi, F. Lenzerini, A. Saccucci, E. Antonini, P. Venturi.

2. R. Pisillo Mazzeschi, A. Del Vecchio, M. Manetti, P. Pustorino (ed.), Il diritto al pluralismo dell'informazione in Europa e in Italia, RaiEri, Rome, 2012, pp. 342. With chapters written by: R. Pisillo Mazzeschi, E. Sciso, P. Pustorino, G. M. Bruno, M. Di Filippo, G. Strozzi, R. Mastroianni, P. De Caterini, F. Barzanti, E. Cheli, M. Manetti, G. E. Vigevani, R. Borrello, E. Lehner, A. Martusciello, R. Natale, F. Mantovani, S. Lo Giudice.

3. L. Bonfield, G. Cataldi, N. Parisi, P. Venturi (eds.), Immigration and Right to Nationality, Jus Gentium Europaeum, Torino, 2015, pp. VII-339. With chapters written by: L. Bonfield, W. Nelson, L. Benson, G. Romeo, E. Cheli, M. Manetti, G. Ballarani, P. Venturi, A. Cilento, G. Cataldi, C. Panella, A. Viviani,  N. Parisi, F. Cherubini.

4. R. ­Pisillo­ Mazzeschi­, P. ­De ­Sena (eds.), Global Justice, Human Rights and the Modernization of International Law, Springer, Cham (Switzerland), 2018, pp. XXX-272. With chapters written by: E. Decaux, A. Tancredi, G. Gaja, P.-M. Dupuy, H. Bourgeois and J. Wouters, R. Pisillo Mazzeschi and A. Viviani, J. d’Aspremont, C. Tomuschat, M. Iovane, F. Francioni, P. De Sena, J. E. Viñuales.

Among the consultancy activities carried out by the Center, we would like to point out, among others, some opinions on the subject of (a) expulsion from the United Kingdom to Italy of abandoned minors and asylum seekers on the basis of the Dublin II Regulation; (b) recognition of a child by an illegal immigrant in Italy; (c) opposition to the expulsion of migrants; (d) family reunification; (e) extradition to Italy of an Italian citizen arrested in Taiwan; (f) recognition in Italy of judgments of US courts against Iran for damages resulting from acts of terrorism; (g) Italian jurisdiction for tort action of damages for an Italian citizen killed in Thailand during an uprising.