Zafar Shayan
Umberto Angelucci is an Italian peace activist and the director of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) – Middle East. Mr. Angelucci, along with his wife Marilyn Angelucci, has devoted several decades of their lives promoting peace in different parts of the world while tirelessly mobilizing people for peace.
Mr. Angelucci started his peace-related activities in 1991, when he took on the responsibilities of the Director of Unification Movement in Bucharest, Romania. At the same time, he was the Regional Director of the International Relief and Friendship Foundation from 1991 to 1995. Later he became the director of the same foundation in India and Afghanistan until 2008. He left Afghanistan for India when the Taliban came to power in 1997. He did not hesitate to help Afghan refugees while he was in India. He opened a school for refugees, which was later supported by the government of Afghanistan.
After the fall of the Taliban, Angelucci returned to Afghanistan in 2005 and directed the UPF from 2005 to 2010. Through the federation, he organized hundreds of peace education seminars, discussions, and various social activities, through which hundreds of young people became mobilized for peace and interdependence. He raised them to become Youth Ambassadors for Peace, who would be able to serve the nation through different projects, such as tree planting, street cleaning, and other programs. He worked as the International Advisor for the National Olympic Committee of Afghanistan in order to encourage youth to use sports for peace and unity among the youth of Afghanistan. He also worked as the director of the International Education Foundation in Afghanistan and has provided peace programs and training for teachers.
From 2010 to 2015, he worked as Vice-President for the Internal Affairs at International Peace Leadership College Tanay in the Philippines. Since 2015, he worked as the President of UPF in the Middle East. Through this foundation, along with his team, he organizes peace programs in different nations of the Middle East such as Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco etc. and connects individuals and organizations working for peace.
Mr. Angelucci has both organized and participated in several international conferences focused on peace in Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Afghanistan, the Middle East and several European countries.