Our members

Aditus Foundation was established with a view to monitor, act and report on access to fundamental human rights by individuals and groups. Aditus Foundation was founded on the principles of the universality, interdependence and indivisibility of all fundamental human rights, and we strive to promote their understanding and application. As a generic human rights NGO, we work constantly to adopt a broad perspective for human rights in Malta, identifying themes such as non-discrimination and access to effective remedies. We also work towards highlighting the regional and international implications of human rights. Our main activities include the identification of priority areas, formulating advocacy strategies and working towards improvement in legal and administrative standards. We focus primarily on the Government of Malta, but also address the EU institutions, the UN, the Council of Europe and other relevant agencies. We remain in constant communication and cooperation with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental entities to maintain a comprehensive approach to our activities.

Andrea Saccucci is Associate Professor of International Law at the University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" and Adjunct Professor of International Organizations and Human Rights at the LUISS of Rome. He qualified as Full Professor of International Law in 2018. He is a practising lawyer specialized in litigating individual and collective cases before the European Court of Human Rights and other international tribunals or bodies. He is also an expert of the Council of Europe, EU and OSCE for human rights training activities throughout Europe. He has authored many books and articles in international law, human rights, and criminal justice.

Barbara von Rütte is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. Prior to this she has completed her PhD at the University of Bern within the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research NCCR - on the move. Her doctoral and postdoctoral research focuses on the regulation of nationality in international law, in particular the right to nationality. Her broader research interests include questions relating to citizenship law and theory as well as statelessness, Swiss nationality law, legal identity, and the administrative detention of migrants both from a constitutional law as well as a human rights perspective. Since 2020 she is a member of the Swiss Federal Commission on Migration and serves as a book review editor for the Statelessness and Citizenship review. Until 2019 she also served as a consultant for the Council of Europe on the committee of experts on administrative detention of migrants (CJ-DAM).

Before starting a Ph.D. in Political Theory at the University of Edinburgh, I took an M.A. in International Studies at Seoul National University, and a B.A. in Philosophy and Business Studies at the University of Mannheim. In 2012, I was an exchange student at the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. Since 2019, I've been a co-chair of the “Normative Theory of Immigration Working Group” which is an international collective of scholars working at the intersections of migration studies, policy studies, and political theory. Moreover,

Erika Kalantzi past and current roles include Attorney-at-Law at the High Court of Greece 1990-1996: legal counselor at the Greek Council for Refugees 1998-3/2001: participation – representing UNHCR’s office in Athens - to second instance committee for the regularization of illegal migrants in Greece. 2000-2008: participation to second instance committees for the examination of submissions filed by rejected asylum seekers. 1998 till 2015: editing of the Yearbook of Refugee and Aliens Law (issued by the Publisher Ant. N. Sakkoulas in Greece).

Forum Réfugiés works to protect the needs and promote the rights of all asylum seekers, stateless persons and refugees. The four main activities of our association are: reception and legal accompaniment of asylum seekers, integration through work and accommodation of refugees, medical and psychological accompaniment, and legal counselling in administrative retention centres. Forum Réfugiés translates its practical work into policy and advocacy activities which aim at raising awareness about the situation of asylum seekers and refugees in France and Europe. Forum Réfugiés  has developed a strong experience and expertise with regards to legislative advocacy. It promotes protection-oriented legislative reforms and policy initiatives at the national and European levels.

The Human Rights League is a civic association (non-governmental organisation) established in 2005. The basic aim of the association is reinforcing the respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms arising from international, European or interstate instruments as well as from the Constitution of the Slovak Republic and other national laws. It combines direct, high-quality and free legal assistance to refugees and migrants in the Slovak Republic, including stateless persons, with advocacy and strategic litigation in the creation, enforcement and implementation of Slovak migration, asylum and integration policy.

Jyothi Kanics has a Masters in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford and a Masters in International Relations from Yale University. She is currently working as an Associate Member of Child Circle and completing her PhD at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lucerne. Since 1995 she has been active with NGOs and international organisations including UNICEF, UNHCR, Save the Children and OSCE ODIHR advocating for the rights of migrants in vulnerable situations such as separated children, trafficked persons, undocumented migrants and stateless persons. She continues to provide expert advice to the Council of Europe and OSCE as well as to various foundations and NGOs. She is an active individual member of the European Network on Statelessness in Switzerland and advised the ENS on its #StatelessKids campaign.

Katerina Komita is a lawyer before the Supreme Court of Greece specialized in human rights. From 2011 until 2021, she had been a member of the Legal Unit of the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) specialized in vulnerable cases. In this context, for seven years she had been the coordinator of the multidisciplinary project Prometheus (provision of holistic services for the recovery from the consequences of torture suffered by asylum seekers and refugees on a legal, social, psychological and medical level). She has contacted the ENS research Statelessness Index-Greece [years 2019, 2020 and 2021 (ongoing)]. Additionally, she has more than 15 years of experience as a journalist.

Katia Bianchini is a researcher at Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany, where she is conducting research on refugee law and statelessness. She holds a law degree from the University of Pavia (Italy), an LL.M. in Comparative Laws from the University of San Diego (California, USA), and a Ph.D. in Law from the University of York (UK). Her doctoral thesis provided an empirical and legal analysis of how the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons is implemented in ten EU states. She has also worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (Göttingen). Before engaging in research, she practised immigration and refugee law for ten years in the UK and the USA for about 10 years.