As a front-line lawyer at the top of the Red Cross: who is Rocca, center-right candidate in Lazio

From a front-line lawyer against the mafia to an expert in international emergencies, a role that brought him to the top of the Italian Red Cross but also, first Italian, of the world one. Francesco Rocca announced today his resignation from the presidency of the CRI in view of the candidacy for the centre-right in the Lazio regional elections, as his words suggest: «I have decided to present my resignation from the position of national president of the Italian Red Cross because I have chosen to make myself available to the territory. As a public health expert, I think I can bring added value: I have accepted a new challenge in which I strongly believe”. Rocca was born in Rome on 1 September 1965. Until today he was National President of the Italian Red Cross and President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Francesco Rocca approaches volunteering from the early years of university studies in Law: first alongside the Jesuit Refugee Service, then with Caritas, finally with the Piccola Casa della Divina Provvidenza Cottolengo.

Having become a lawyer, he practiced the profession from 1990 to 2003. In particular, in the second half of the 1990s, he was at the forefront of the fight against the mafia and, for this very reason, he was forced to live five years under guard. He held various positions: President of the Ipab “Asilo della Patria” from 1996 to 2003, Commissioner of the Sant’Andrea Hospital in Rome from 2002 and then General Manager of the same hospital until 2007. Again, member of the steering committee of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases “Lazzaro Spallanzani” of Rome from 2007 to 2010 and of the evaluation unit of the National Cancer Institute – Ircss Pascale Foundation of Naples from 2005 to 2009. Finally, Extraordinary Commissioner of the ASL Napoli 2 in 2011 and Director General of the ‘IDI in 2017. In parallel with his work as a lawyer, he continues his commitment to volunteering through the Ethiopian law NGO of the Hansenian’s Ethiopian Welfare Organization “Hewo” of which, for a short period, he is also the general manager free of charge and with the Italian Red Cross, adhering to the former component of Blood Donors.

From the second half of 2007 he was called to cover the position of Head of the Emergency Operations Department of the CRI. A year later, in 2008, he accepted the position of Extraordinary Commissioner. In 2009, during the General Assembly in Kenya, he was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Elected National President of the Italian Red Cross in January 2013, in the same year, during the General Assembly in Sydney, he was elected Vice President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. In the midst of the historic reform of the Association, the National Assembly confirmed its trust and support and, in May 2016, he was elected President for a second term, after having completed the historic reform of the Association which thus falls within the orthodoxy of the Movimento Internazionale, no longer being a public body, but an association that has returned completely to the hands of volunteers.

On 6 November 2017, at the General Assembly held in Antalya, Turkey, he was elected President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the first Italian in history to hold the prestigious role. Finally, in May 2020, he was reconfirmed for the third time at the helm of the Italian Red Cross. «During the years of the Red Cross – Rocca writes on his website – I had the burden and the honor of coordinating and representing the Association at a national and international level. From the conflict in Georgia in 2008, to the earthquakes in Italy (L’Aquila, Emilia, Central Italy) that have followed one another over the years, from the missions in Syria during the war, to the earthquake that hit Haiti or the armed conflict in Palestine and in particularly in the Gaza Strip, up to the mission in Kenya, during the very serious drought that had hit the Turkana area above all, I always tried to be on the ground as much as possible to understand people’s needs and to be close to our volunteers and operators ».