Migration Governance in the Mediterranean: The Siracusa Experience

ABSTRACT

This paper combines the ‘local turn’ in the study of migration policy with the ‘practice turn’ in EU studies by analysing the humanitarian practices applied in the Sicilian city of Siracusa in the years 2013-2018. The primary interest of this research is to explore the practices by which the local community responded to the migration crisis in the Mediterranean and the contribution provided to migration governance by border cities such as Siracusa. It seeks to test the hypothesis that local communities are better apt to react to the emergency. While scholarly attention has focused extensively on the explanation of the multiple causes of migration as a global phenomenon, the practices adopted to manage migration still deserve investigation. Migration governance relies upon practices, i.e. competent performances, existing or emerging ‘on the ground’, to effectively address the phenomenon. By deconstructing the dynamics involving the European Union, decentring the study of migration governance in the Mediterranean allows us to go beyond the lack of EU policy-response to explore the local levels where politics takes place. Drawing on interviews with local actors, or international and national ones acting locally, the article explores the interaction among stakeholders in a practical context where actors, as members of a ‘community of practice’, are involved in a process of ‘learning by doing’. Empirical research demonstrates that the actors’ role in addressing the crisis, their ideas and know-how, have shaped migration governance and developed community practices in a process of ‘learning by doing’. It suggests further empirical research to test whether an emergency operational model – consisting of competent performances, routine practices and procedures to be adopted in other areas and cases, has emerged in this Sicilian border city.

Acknowledgments

The author is indebted to the interviewees for having shared precious information and their experience via deep interviews. Special thanks go to the SI editors and to the anonymous referees for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. Responsibility for the opinions expressed in the article remains with the author only.

Notes

1. When talking about ‘migration crisis’, policy officials often imply large flows of uncontrolled migration to Europe. While acknowledging the increasing migration flows affecting Sicily in the 2010s, this article refers to ‘crisis’ first and foremost as the lack of institutional coordination and political response at the EU and national level conducive of a state of emergency. There was ‘an emergency’ not just in figures, but rather in the lack of policy-response that provoked “a wave of civil-society actions and initiatives of solidarity” (Castelli Gattinara 2017, 322).

2. The concept ‘irregular migration’ refers here to irregular access to Europe. We acknowledge that there are ‘refugees and other migrants,’ due to the mixed nature of the flows across the Mediterranean, and there is a continuous movement of people between categories across time and space (Crawley and Skleparis 2018). Being aware that refugees are also migrants and there is a tendency to privilege the former over the latter (Carling and Collins 2018), this article adopts an inclusive category of ‘irregular migrants’, without distinguishing between ‘refugees’ – who are entitled to international protection and asylum, and ‘migrants’ – mostly economic migrants, undeserving of protection in EU normative terms. An inclusive concept renders justice to forced displacements caused by multiple reasons.

3. On the contribution of the local level in moving the decentring agenda forward see Wolff and Kutz in this SI.

4. Since the adoption of MNO, in 2013, almost everyone who entered Italy after rescue by Search and Rescue (SAR) operations after an irregular journey across the Mediterranean, was disembarked in secured spaces at Italian ports, before being transferred into reception facilities. The identification procedure was initially rather fuzzy because the Italian authorities were not able to suddenly face such a high number of arrivals. To support frontline EUMS, in 2015, the European Commission set up the ‘hotspot system’ (see note 11).

5. Siracusa has recently expressed critical positions, challenging the national government. In January 2019, the Italian government used strong arm tactics against the SAR NGO SeaWatch, and for several days refused to assign a port of safety to let the SeaWatch 3: vessel disembark its rescued migrants. The Italian government was pursuing the ‘closed ports’ strategy defended by Matteo Salvini – Minister of the Interior in the years 2018-2019. However, Siracusa, in the shape of its Mayor (I4) and several associations (I1, I9, I16), decoupled from national migration policies and expressed itself in favour of the disembarkation of the on-board migrants.

6. A list of interviews is provided in Annex 1. To protect anonymity, interviewees are cited by institutional name or assigned code as in the Annex.

7. In Italy, Prefetture are the peripheral organs of the Ministry of the Interior representing the central government in the local territories. They play a crucial administrative role in the public security sector, in the migration field, concerning civil protection and more generally in the management of the relations with local actors.

8. Questura is the local office of the department of public security of the Ministry of the Interior. Questori make use of the police forces to guarantee public security and order.

9. Recently established in Siracusa, they founded an Intercultural Centre for Aid and Orientation (CIAO). Actively engaged in the integration of migrants, they provide first aid and education aimed at professionalization (courses of Italian primarily, but also English language, computer lessons, driving license and cooking).

10. They are investing in migrants’ professionalization via training for elderly care.

11. To support frontline EUMS – primarily Greece and Italy – to swiftly identify, register and fingerprint migrants, the European Agenda for migration established a ‘hotspot’ approach (European Commission 2015). EASO, Frontex and Europol work on the ground to ensure the swift identification, registration and fingerprinting of migrants in hotspots.

12. Some scholars have explored the meaning and implications of the rhetorical political claim ‘cities of welcome’ (Bazurli 2019). At the peak of the irregular migration crisis, Siracusa was governed by Giancarlo Garozzo – city mayor from 2013 to 2018 – of a left-leaning party (Partito Democratico). Since 2018 the mayor is Francesco Italia, Garozzo’s deputy Mayor. It has to be acknowledged that – during his electoral campaign, Italia defined Siracusa as a ‘city of peace and human rights’. However, this article focuses on the content and implication of practices, not on the pro-migrant narratives.

Additional information

Funding

This research has been conducted within the project “The Italian Visa, Asylum and Migration policy between domestic and international constraints” financed by the University of Catania in the frame of the Research Plan 2017-2019; University of Catania