Sociologist, trade unionist of CGIL in the 80’s after a bitter internal conflict with the extremist fringe, he quits the National Labour Confederation to serve in the Public Administration. At the beginning he works at the Welfare Ministry and then in the early 90’s at the Foreign Office as consultant on immigration issues of the Foreign Secretary Gianni De Michelis. In this service he took part to:
the elaboration and enactment of the Martelli Law (1990); to the Commission for the accession of Italy to the Schengen Agreement; to the preparation of the Intergovernmental Conference for the Reform of EEC Treaties; to the OECD Conference of Rome on international migrations.
Director General of the Ministry for the Italians abroad and the Immigration he coordinates the preparatory works for the Boniver Law (1992) on the right to citizenship and those of the Contri Commission in charge of the elaboration of an organic law on the legal status of the foreign citizen in Italy (1993).
Chief of Department of the Ministry of Welfare he represents Italy in the group of the national functionaries on the free circulation within the EU chaired by Simon Veil. As Chief of the Cabinet he presides the cross-ministerial group in charge of the elaboration of the Turco-Napolitano Law (1998) and the Committee for the foreign unaccompanied minors.
In 2001 he is appointed by Minister Roberto Maroni Chief of Department of the Ministry of Welfare and ad interim of the Ministry of Labour. Since 2009 he is consultant of the Shengen Parliamentary Committee and since 2010 of the Committee for the Italian Islam of the Ministry of the Interior. Besides a number of scientific publications, he hosted on Rai 3 Prima Pagina e Radio Tre Mondo. He collaborates with the main Italian headings such as Repubblica, and il Corriere della Sera and the publishing house Il Mulino. He currently writes for Il Sole 24 Ore.
Peter Braham lectured in sociology at the Open University for many years. He made major contributions to a number of Open University courses: Patterns of Inequality; Ethnic Minorities and Community Relations; Mass Communication and Society; An Introduction to Sociology; 'Race', Education and Society; Understanding Modern Societies; Implementing New Technologies; An Introduction to Information Technology; Culture, Media and Identities; Studying Family and Community History: 19th and 20th Centuries; and Sociology and Society.
He co-edited Discrimination and Disadvantage in Employment: the Experience of Black Workers [1981]; Media, Knowledge and Power [1986]; Racism and Antiracism [1992]; Political and Economic Forms of Modernity [1992]; Social Differences and Divisions [2002]; Dictionary of Race, Ethnicity and Culture [2003]. His main research interests have been in migration and settlement, child immigration and family reunification, and he has been the UK partner on several international research projects in these areas.
