National Office Against Racial Discrimination

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

UNAR
National Office Against Racial Discrimination
Ufficio Nazionale Antidiscriminazioni Razziali
Formation9 July 2003
Legal statusGovernment Organisation
Purpose
HeadquartersGalleria Alberto Sordi Largo Chigi, Rome
Location
  • Italy
Websitewww.unar.it/portale/

The National Office Against Racial Discrimination (Italian translation Ufficio Nazionale Antidiscriminazioni Razziali), also known by the acronym UNAR, is an Italian state body with the function of promoting equal treatment and the removal of discrimination based on race or ethnic origin. Active since 2003, it is established at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.[1] It operates in an autonomous and impartial manner and also deals with the different impact that discrimination can have on women and men, as well as the existence of forms of racism of a cultural and religious nature.

It was established by the Berlusconi II Government with the legislative decree 9 July 2003, n. 215, transposing community directive no. 2000/43 EC.[2]

Functions[edit]

The tasks entrusted to the office by law are the following:

  1. Provide assistance, in jurisdictional or administrative proceedings undertaken, to people who consider themselves harmed by discriminatory behaviour, also according to the forms referred to in art. 425 Italian civil procedure code;
  2. Carry out investigations, in compliance with the prerogatives and functions of the judicial authority, to verify the existence of discriminatory phenomena;
  3. Promote the adoption, by public and private entities, in particular by associations and bodies carrying out activities in the field of combating discrimination, of specific measures, including projects positive actions, aimed at avoiding or compensating for disadvantaged situations linked to racial or ethnic origin;
  4. Spread the maximum possible knowledge of the protection instruments in force also through actions to raise public awareness of the principle of equal treatment and the implementation of information and communication campaigns;
  5. Formulate recommendations and opinions on issues related to discrimination based on race and ethnic origin, as well as proposals for amendments to current legislation;
  6. Draw up an annual report for the Parliament on the effective application of the principle of equal treatment and on the effectiveness of the protection mechanisms, as well as an annual report to the President of the Council of the Ministers on the activity carried out;
  7. Promote studies, research, training courses and exchanges of experiences, also in collaboration with associations and bodies that carry out activities in the field of combating discrimination, with other non-governmental organisations operating in the sector and with institutes specialists in statistics detection, also for the purpose of developing guidelines on the fight against discrimination.

Composition[edit]

The office is directed by a manager appointed by the President of the Council of Ministers or by a Minister delegated by him. It also makes use of personnel from other public administrations, including magistrates, lawyers and public prosecutors, in positions of command, on leave or outside the role, as well as experts[3] and external consultants.

Editorial series[edit]

UNAR directs the editorial series "Rights, Equality, Integration" which has the declared aim of contributing to the realization of the general principle of non-discrimination and equality, enshrined in Article 3 of the Italian Constitution, and to spread the values of diversity and differences against every form and cause of discrimination.[4]

Publications[edit]

The series is composed of the following volumes:

  1. Pilati, Katia (2010). La partecipazione politica degli immigrati: il caso di Milano (PDF). Roma: Armando Editore. ISBN 978-88-608-1736-5.
  2. UNAR (2010). Prevenzione e contrasto dei fenomeni di razzismo : il ruolo dell'UNAR: relazione al Parlamento sull'effettiva applicazione del principio di parità di trattamento e sull'efficacia dei meccanismi di tutela (PDF). Roma: Armando Editore. ISBN 978-88-608-1765-5.
  3. Diletta Tega, ed. (2011). Le discriminazioni razziali ed etniche: profili giuridici di tutela (PDF). Roma: Armando Editore. ISBN 978-88-608-1884-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  4. Carlo D'Ippoliti, Alexander Schuster, ed. (2011). DisOrientamenti: discriminazione ed esclusione sociale delle persone LGBT in Italia (PDF). Roma: Armando Editore. ISBN 978-88-608-1886-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  5. Danilo Catania, Alessandro Serini, ed. (2011). Il circuito del separatismo: buone pratiche e linee guida per la questione Rom nelle regioni Obiettivo convergenza (PDF). Roma: Armando Editore. ISBN 978-88-608-1929-1.
  6. UNAR (2011). Parità di trattamento e uguaglianza in Italia: un anno di attività contro ogni forma e causa di discriminazione (PDF). Roma: Armando Editore. ISBN 978-88-608-1976-5.
  7. UNAR, Alessandro Pistecchia (2011). La minoranza romanì. I rom romeni dalla schiavitù a Ceausescu. Roma: Armando Editore. ISBN 978-88-6081-984-0.
  8. UNAR (2012). Relazione al Parlamento sull’effettiva applicazione del principio (PDF). Roma: Armando Editore. ISBN 978-88-6677-406-8. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  9. UNAR, Gelormini Paola (2013). Noi e gli Altri (PDF). Roma: Armando Editore. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  10. UNAR, Associazione Culturale Pescepirata (2014). Diverso sarò io (PDF). Roma: Armando Editore. ISBN 978-88-6677-716-8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2014.

Controversies[edit]

In 2017 an investigation by the program Le Iene reported that in a private club affiliated to the ANDDOS, association which had access to state funding amounting to 55,000 euros thanks to a UNAR tender, not yet disbursed,[5] group sex and prostitution homosexual.[6] Subsequently ANDDOS specified that the money paid by UNAR (awarded through a regular tender) was not linked to the support of the group but the aim was to finance specific projects relating to courses on discrimination.[7] On 20 February 2017, following the media outcry caused by the investigation, the director of UNAR Francesco Spano resigned from office.[8]

In July 2018 all the accusations relating to the former director of UNAR, Francesco Spano, were dropped and the court of auditors confirmed the correctness of the announcement that ended up under accusation.[9][10]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to UNAR.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Inquadrato nel Dipartimento per le pari opportunità
  2. ^ https://www.stradeonline.it/diritto-e-liberta/2629-scandalo-e-pregiudizio-il-caso-unar-oltre-il-servizio-delle-iene
  3. ^ Gli esperti sono scelti tra soggetti, anche estranei alla pubblica amministrazione, dotati di elevata professionalità nelle materie giuridiche, nonché nei settori della lotta alle discriminazioni, dell'assistenza materiale e psicologica ai soggetti in condizioni disagiate, del recupero sociale, dei servizi di pubblica utilità, della comunicazione sociale e dell'analisi delle politiche pubbliche.
  4. ^ Pilati, Katia (2010). La partecipazione politica degli immigrati: il caso di Milano. Roma: Armando. ISBN 978-88-608-1736-5.
  5. ^ e-pregiudizio-il-caso-unar-oltre-il-servizio-delle-iene SCANDAL AND PREJUDICE: THE UNAR CASE BEYOND THE IENE SERVICE Stradeonline.it
  6. ^ Funding for the gay prostitution venue, after the Iene service the Unar website is down
  7. ^ "Unar and public money, here is the approved Anddos project | National Association against Discrimination from Sexual Orientation" (in Italian). Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Caso Unar, si dimette il direttore Francesco Spano". Repubblica.it (in Italian). 20 February 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  9. ^ GayNews. "Spano scagionato da ogni accusa. Ma fioccano i rinvii a giudizio per gli autori d'insulti via social nei riguardi dell'ex direttore dell'Unar". Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Caso Anddos. L'ex direttore dell'Unar scagionato, silenzio delle Iene". Gaypost.it. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Office_Against_Racial_Discrimination&oldid=1216656077"