Mario Lana was born in Florence on October 26, 1931 and he died in Rome on December 21, 2015. He graduated in Law under the supervision of Professor Piero Calamandrei at the University of Florence and he practiced law since 1956.
In 1964, together with Lelio Basso and Luciano Ventura, he founded one of the first international law firms in Italy, providing legal advice to numerous governments in developing and eastern countries.
Among the many battles he fought in defense of the interests of these countries, the one concluded with the judgment against BP in favor of the Libyan National Oil Corporation is particularly relevant and it represented a fundamental international precedent for all developing countries.
He was the author of numerous publications and had an in-depth knowledge of the socio-economic reality of the Arab countries, of the Middle Eastern countries and of the Far East, in relation to which he carried out most of his professional activity as a lawyer.
A former professor of Urban Planning Law at the University of Florence, he was President of the Centro Internazionale di Studi e Consulenza sulla Pianificazione Economica e Territoriale (International Center for Studies and Consulting on Economic and Territorial Planning, CIPET) and, in this capacity, he carried out numerous study missions to African countries (such as Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Ghana, etc.), Libya, Mauritania, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique, Senegal and Egypt), Asia (such as Vietnam, People’s Republic of China, Japan, Indonesia, India, Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Mongolia) and Latin America (Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Nicaragua and Chile).
In 1971, upon request of the League of Arab States, he founded the Italian-Arab Chamber of Commerce, of which he was Vice President until the early eighties, together with Professor Lelio Basso.
In 1976, he was a coordinator of the Committee of international jurists who drafted the Charter of Peoples’ Rights, known as “Charte d’Alger”.
Starting from 1990 he was the Director of the scientific journal, “I diritti dell’uomo. Cronache e battaglie”, which operates under the patronage of UNESCO, with the recognition of the European Union, and in 1991 he became the President of the Unione forense per la tutela dei diritti umani.
In 1990 he participated in the foundation of the Consiglio italiano per i rifugiati (Italian Council for Refugees, CIR) and, starting from 2008, he was its Vice President. He was a member of the Executive Board of the Italian Section of the ILA (International Law Association).
Since 2007 he was part, as Attaché de mission, of the Bureau international of FIDH (Fédération international des droits de l’homme).
Still on behalf of the FIDH Presidency, he carried out international judicial observer missions in Algeria and Syria.
He was a member of the international jury of the Ludovic Trarieux Human Rights Award, organized by IDHAE (Institut des droits de l’homme des avocats europeéns) of which he was Vice President.
The mission carried out in Burma in 2008 for the delivery of the International Ludovic Trarieux Award to Uaye Mint, already sentenced to death for his complaints to the ILO (International Labour Organization) on violations in the field of forced labor, is of particular relevance.
In 2011, in the framework of the fifty-year commitment dedicated to the struggle for emancipation of the Mediterranean peoples and the “Arab Spring”, he promoted the candidacy of the Libyan lawyer Fathi Terbil (the main protagonist of the revolts against Gheddafi’s regime) to the international award Ludovic Trarieux, supporting the political action and the contribution to human rights that Terbil himself, now member of the government, showed in Libya. He was a member of the Directorate of INDiMi (National Institute for Children’s Rights).
Terrore in Iran e dall’Iran in “I diritti dell’uomo, cronache e battaglie”, 1990, n. 1, 29 ss;
Una conferenza nazionale sulla cultura della legalità in “I diritti dell’uomo, cronache e battaglie”, 1991, n. 2, 52 ss.;
Per un “cahier de doleances” in “I diritti dell’uomo, cronache e battaglie”, 1991, n. 3, 47 ss.;
Stato di attuazione della L. 25.2.1992 n. 210 in materia di indennizzo di soggetti danneggiati da trasfusioni e somministrazione di emoderivati. Problemi, esigenze di riforma ed azioni da intraprendere in “I diritti dell’uomo, cronache e battaglie”, 1993, n. 3, 81 ss.;
I diritti dell’uomo; l’arma vincente contro la criminalità organizzata in “I diritti dell’uomo, cronache e battaglie”, 1996, n. 3, 5 ss.;
L’informazione globale e la violenza nel mondo in “I diritti dell’uomo, cronache e battaglie”, 1997, n. 1, 5 ss.;
Tangentopoli: passato e futuro,Convegno svoltosi il 29 febbraio 1996 nella Sala “il Cenacolo” della Camera dei Deputati, Roma, 1997;
La conoscenza dei diritti umani in Italia in “I diritti dell’uomo, cronache e battaglie”, 1999, n. 2, 27 ss.;
Celebrazione del 10° anniversario della rivista – relazioni in “I diritti dell’uomo, cronache e battaglie”, 2000, n. 3, 33 ss.;
Iran – chi lotta per la democrazia non è mai terrorista in “Umanitaria”, 2006, aprile-maggio, 7;