WELDI baseline report

SWOT Analysis
Local policy context
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Clear awareness of what they need after 30 years of migrant
arrivals.
Involvement of citizens in providing support to migrants.
Engagement in international city exchanges and diplomacy.
Special attention is paid to Lampedusa by national and international
institutions.
Small municipality with limited capacity (60 staff).
Lack of power to co-develop reception policies or services such
as healthcare.
“Lampedusa as a brand” for welcoming and commitment to reception
and to saving people’s lives.
Attention and potential support of private and non-profit actors
from all over the world.
Constant increase of migrant landings as a result of climate crisis,
African demographic trends, political instability and conflicts
make current reception utterly inadequate - peak of migrant
landings in September 2023 has only been managed thanks to
special efforts by all actors involved.
Possible evolutions in national and EU migration policies and
related decisions. For instance the menacing plan to build a huge
reception centre for long stay on the island.
Geographical and demographical marginality means that costs to
improve services for an island of only 6.5k inhabitants are objectively
excessive.
Potential conflict between migrant reception infrastructure and
tourism.
Environmental impact of mass landings (e.g. generation of special
waste).
Local strategies
Local policies are not easy to identify and implement due to the external
management of migration flows by agents of the central state and the Red Cross,
which are in charge of first reception.
The municipality supports events like the yearly commemoration of the 3rd October
2013 shipwreck, whose main message is the universal right to have access to safe
channels of mobility and the duty of all countries, institutions and individuals to
prevent the loss of human lives.
The municipality has implemented projects aimed at raising awareness among local,
national and European publics on the necessity of guaranteeing the dignity and
fundamental rights of migrants.
Distribution of competencies and funding
Due to Italian legislation on the management of migrant landings and first reception,
Lampedusa’s institutions have no active role in this area, finding themselves in the
uncomfortable position of having to deal with its effects without having the powers
to act effectively and sustainably.
At the same time, the municipality has contacts with regional and national government,
and both have acknowledged the island’s specific situation when it comes to
providing health services. Several times the island has been supported by Italian governments
through tax relief or direct funding as a form of mitigation of the effects
of its exposure to migratory flows.
Good practice and elements to share
International Advocacy Work
Lampedusa’s lasting commitment to migrant rights is reflected in a very active advocacy
work at national, EU and international level. Lampedusa has set up and chairs
the Border Towns and Islands Network (BTIN), which aims to address problems
related to geographical and institutional marginality of places on Europe’s borders,
such as migration, and to carry out advocacy for humane migration policies that respect
fundamental rights and are in line with the UN’s Global Compacts on Migration
and Refugees.
As a member of UCLG, Lampedusa has led a political process of the drafting and
approval of the Lampedusa Charter for Dignified Mobility and Territorial Solidarity.
WELDI - Baseline report
Lampedusa, IT
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