The Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights (MFHR) was founded by the will of George N. Marangopoulos, former President of the Hellenic Council of State. MFHR was officially recognised as a public benefit organization by Presidential Decree 560/1978, and came into operation in 1978. MFHR has its seat in Athens and exercises international activities. Its official launch took place on 5 April 1979 with an international two-day Conference held in Athens.
The MFHR Founder
Georgios Marangopoulos was born in 1906 in Pyrgos, Ilia, and studied Law in Athens and abroad.
At the age of 25, he joined the Council of State as a Rapporteur and, subsequently, he performed fruitful work at all levels of the highest judicial body, alongside his scientific activity and writing. In 1969, he courageously submitted his resignation from the judicial institution he loved so much as a sign of protest against the unprecedented interference of the dictatorial regime in the work of the judiciary. Motivated by his deep faith in the rule of law and human rights, he drafted his will to establish the MFHR as a response to the dictatorial regime. Following the restoration of democracy, G. Marangopoulos was appointed the President of the Council of State.
The MFHR First President
Alice Yiotopoulos-Marangopoulos served as President of the MFHR from its foundation, in 1978, until her passing in 2018.
Born in Corfu in 1917, A. Giotopoulos-Marangopoulos studied law in Greece and abroad and, quickly, became an accomplished practicing attorney and a brilliant academic (Professor of Criminology, Panteion University). She was distinguished for her fierce advocacy for the protection of human rights and gender equality. She became the first female Rector in Greece at Panteion University. In her fulfilling life, she had served in a number of high-level positions: among others, as Vice President of the Athens Bar Association, President of the National Commission for Human Rights, President of the International Alliance of Women, President of the Hellenic Society of Criminology and President of the Greek League for Women’s Rights.
The MFHR Honorary President
Elli Yotopoulos-Sicilianos served as President of the MFHR from 2018 until September 2024.
Professor Emerita, former member of the Pedagogical Institute (1965-1967), Graduate of the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Athens, obtained her PhD from the University of Thessaloniki.
During the initial phase of her career, she served as a teacher at the American College for Girls/Women from 1946 to 1965. In February 1965, she was elected as a member of the newly established Pedagogical Institute, which was tasked with the implementation of the 1964 Educational Reform. She remained in this position until the institute was dissolved by the military dictatorship in 1967. From 1979 to 1981, she held a position on the teaching faculty at the University of Crete.
In 1984, she was appointed as a Professor at the Ionian University and became a founding member of its Governing Committee. Between 1990 and 1993, she served as the President of the Governing Committee of the Ionian University. Since that time, she has produced a substantial and noteworthy body of scholarly work.
The inauguration of the MFHR took place on 5 April 1979, with the organization of the first international conference on the topic of “Draft of the International Convention against Torture”, in which prominent personalities participated, including representatives of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the State.
In 1989, the Marangopoulos Chair at the summer school program of the Foundation René Cassin-International Institute for Human Rights was inaugurated.
In 1994, the human rights publishing series of the MFHR at Pedone Publishing House was launched, and the first book of the series was published, titled “La responsabilité de l’État pour violation des droits de l’homme: Problèmes d’imputation” (H. Dipla).
On 9-10 May 1996 (on the occasion of Europe Day), the MFHR co-organized with the Council of Europe, an international conference on the “Protection of Minorities in Europe: The Framework Convention of the Council of Europe for the Protection of National Minorities of 1995”.
In 2002, the annual award of prizes to students of Greek and Cypriot Universities who submit the best papers on 3 specific topics was inaugurated. The prizes are accompanied by scholarships for attending the summer school program of the Fondation René Cassin-International Institute for Human Rights.
In 2006, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) adopted a decision on the merits of the complaint lodged by the MFHR against Greece concerning the activities of the Public Electricity Company in Ptolemaida and Megalopolis, finding a violation of multiple articles of the European Social Charter. It is the first decision, at a pan-European level, that recognises the “right to a healthy environment” as part of the wider right to the protection of health, and it interprets said article in light of other international rules, such as the right to life protected by the ECHR, emphasizing on the indivisible nature of human rights.
Between 12 and 14 December 2019, the MFHR co-organized, with the Netherlands Institute at Athens, the Danish Institute at Athens, the Swedish Institute at Athens and the Norwegian Institute at Athens, an international conference on the occasion of the 50-year anniversary of Greece’s “withdrawal” from the Council of Europe during the dictatorship (The “Greek Case” in the Council of Europe: A Game Changer for International Law and Human Rights?).
The publishing series of the MFHR “Studies for Human Rights” at Nomiki Bibliothiki Group was inaugurated, and the first book of the series published touched the topic: “National institutions for the promotion and protection of Human Rights (NIHR): a comparative study of NHRI at a European and international levels” (R. Fragkou).