In a month dedicated to celebrating lawyers around the world who are driving systemic change, I decided to introduce you to Lorenzo Trucco, an Italian lawyer whose voice is making a difference.

LORENZO TRUCCO: ACTIVIST LAWYER

Lorenzo Trucco was born in 1948, and is an Italian lawyer, President of the A.S.G.I (Association for Legal Studies on Immigration), and co-director of the magazine “Law, Immigration and Citizenship”. In addition, he as worked on various interesting publications, including "The actuality of evil. Libya of the lager is a procedural truth” (2018); "303 foreigners in the city: not tourists, but unaccompanied foreign minors" (2006), and "The law on [Italian] citizenship: how it is and how we would like it to be" (2014). 

He has worked in defence teams in various trials relating to trafficking, exploitation, and enslavement, as well as acts of racism. In 2011, for example, he assisted the families of the victims of war crimes in Bosnia before the court of Travnik (Bosnia). 

However, his most impactful work has come in the Ocalan trial, held before the Tribunal of Rome, where Trucco – as President of A.S.G.I – intervened ad adjuvandum to support Abdullah Ocalan's position. 

FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT OF ASYLUM: IT ALL STARTS WITH ARTICLE 10 OF THE ITALIAN CONSTITUTION

Lorenzo Trucco is a prime example of how law can help drive positive change. We can use it to empower people; hold the powerful to account; defend progressive laws, and secure their implementation. In particular, he fights for the right of asylum, guaranteed by article 10 of the Italian Constitution. 

According to Trucco, “in article 10 of the Constitution we find perhaps the most beautiful definition of asylum that has ever been given”. This article is based on the concept that asylum is granted to foreigners who are prevented from exercising the democratic freedoms guaranteed by the Italian legal system in their own country. Unfortunately, this article was never followed by a specific law that applies it, therefore, although very important, it is not applied in practice.

However, Trucco – on behalf of  A.S.G.I – participated to the first application of this article, which came following a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation, which stated that the principle is very clear, so even in the absence of a specific law, Article 10 could be applied directly to serious cases.

This case related to Abdullah Ocalan, the president of the Kurdish PKK party, who arrived in Italy at the end of the 1990s and submitted an asylum application under the Geneva Convention. However, due to international political complications, the Italian court of appeals essentially rejected his request. He left Italy and he was then kidnapped by the Turkish special forces while he was in Kenya. Ocalan was arrested and taken to Turkey where he was sentenced to death and where he is still locked up in Imrali prison, a small island off the Turkish coast. As he is no longer present on the territory of the State, his asylum application according to the Geneva Convention has been archived. 

Ocalan left a defensive mandate to his lawyers in Rome to do their best, including a request for the application of Article 10 of the Italian Constitution. Despite his incarceration in a foreign prison, the submission  on the art.10 point began before the Court of Rome, and, as Trucco remembers; “we also intervened as an association to support these requests for the situation in Turkey, which is different from that of now, even if it is not very different.” 

The Court granted the request of direct recognition of a person’s right to asylum, and granted asylum under the Italian Constitution, despite Turkish pressure. So, if Ocalan were to arrive on the Italian territory, he would be protected by this ruling. This is a prime example of how lawyers use existing laws to drive systematic change.

THE A.S.G.I ASSOCIATION

Social change can be hard to bring about, yet the A.S.G.I association, of which Lorenzo Trucco is the President, has never stopped fighting. 

A.S.G.I is a social promotion association born from the intention of sharing the emerging legislation on immigration by a group of lawyers, jurists, and scholars, which promotes the protection of rights towards foreigners in political-parliamentary debate and in the work of public authorities.

Initially formed by university professors and lawyers, it has become a reference point for associations, public, and private bodies, as well as for students, practicing lawyers, social workers, and those who have an interest and need to stay updated and confront each other daily in front of the evolution of the phenomenon of immigration.

Since 1990, the A.S.G.I has been actively working for the defence of migrant citizens through the promotion of information on immigration, citizenship and asylum legislation aimed at professionals and operators engaged in public administration and NGOs. It works to combat discriminatory policies, not only through court work, but also through the Journal of Immigration and Citizenship Law, the website, and the newsletter. It creates documents (guides, manuals and operating sheets, etc.) to transfer useful information and tools necessary to ensure an ever-greater preparation and effectiveness of intervention in the protection of rights. 

Advocacy is also a fundamental pillar of this organisation: it develops recommendations and proposals for amending the national and international legal system to influence political and legal decision-making mechanisms at both national and international level.

A.S.G.I involves public opinion by drawing attention to immigration issues to push policy makers to change their positions; implementing projects to strengthen the protection of migrants, with particular attention to situations of greater vulnerability (exploited workers, stateless persons, victims of trafficking in human beings, asylum seekers ...); participating in campaigns and networks with other associations on a topic in order to modify a situation or legislation deemed illegitimate or discriminating. 

There is plenty of evidence that things can change, and cultures can change, rapidly, dramatically, and unexpectedly, for the better. A.S.G.I knows this, and that's why it believes that it’s vital to encourage the dissemination of information related to immigration to non-professionals and civil society, to promote their knowledge and understanding, useful for fighting against acts of discrimination and media manipulation. In the same way, it is necessary to inform the citizens themselves, Italian and foreign, about the rules in force so that they can, where victims of violations of their rights, understand how to act to counter them. 

CONCRETE EXAMPLES: PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO ASYLUM 

I would like to dedicate a few lines to the most important projects – in my opinion – implemented by this organization in order to protect the right of asylum and, more generally, the fundamental rights of migrant people. 

We can make use of the law, and its instruments, in various ways. But with a single purpose: to make a positive change. So, these projects represent a clear evidence of the law in the service of activism. 

The first one is the Sciabaca project, which aims to counter the government policies and regulations recorded over the last few years at national, European and international level which illegally limit freedom of movement and the right of asylum. With this initiative, the aim is to provide highly specialised tools useful for proposing strategic litigation before European and international domestic courts. Thus, this project aims to create and strengthen communication and operational platforms between qualified international subjects operating in this sector.

The second one is the Guarantee pole for the protection of migrants' rights. This project, carried out in Rome, aims to monitor the illegitimate and incorrect practices of public administrations towards migrants. In fact, there are many associations that experience "a condition of powerlessness" every day with respect to non-compliant behaviour implemented by public administrations. For this reason, the pole wants to be a "reference point and tool at the service of individuals and entities that report the occurrence of these abuses and violations".

Another project that deserves our attention is Look Out, an operational observatory to create a real and updated framework with reference to the effective protection that victims of trafficking and severe exploitation receive in Italy. The goal is to verify whether or not the State complies with the obligations imposed by international legislation and community legislation in terms of assistance and protection for victims of trafficking. 

In conclusion, as it has been demonstrated, the law has the ability to mould social change. In fact, it is designed to bring about a social order where individual rights are protected. The law is the perfect tool for maintaining justice and ensuring that lawlessness does not continue to prevail within society.  

Thus, the essence of social change lies in the effective application of the law.

But for this to be possible, we need people like Lorenzo Trucco, and like all those who collaborate with him through the A.S.G.I association. People fighting for what they believe in: a better world. 

Giulia is holds a Master's Degree in International Cooperation on Human Rights from the University of Bologna. She has a Bachelor's in Philosophy. Her fields of interest are immigration and refugee law, particularly related to unaccompanied foreign minors. She would love to work at the United Nations in the future.

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