On 15 December, EMN Belgium and the EMN Return Expert Group hosted a webinar on Alternatives to Detention. The online event focused on the current legal framework on alternatives to detention, the implementation of these alternatives in practice and the identification of emerging good practices and pilot projects.

The new State Secretary for Asylum and Migration, Sammy Mahdi (CD&V) presented his General Policy Paper on Asylum and Migration in Parliament on 18 November 2020.

On 16 September 2020, the Interior Committee of the Belgian House of Representatives held a parliamentary hearing on a legislative proposal concerning the prohibition of detention of minors. EMN Belgium contributed to the hearing by presenting the laws, policies and practices in other EU Member States.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, personal interviews of applicants for international protection at the CGRS were stopped in March. They were started again in June. To improve the safety of staff and applicants, a video with practical instructions was created.

The EMN has recently conducted a study on "Comparative overview of national protection statuses”. A short video was created to highlight some of the key findings of this study.

Today EMN Belgium has launched a Twitter account to better disseminate EMN outputs. 

Border closures and quarantine rules to prevent the spreading of Covid-19 risk having a negative impact on seasonal work. To address labour shortages in the agricultural and horticultural sectors, the federal and regional governments decided to adopt a series of measures in the spring of 2020.

In 2020 EMN Belgium will continue to contribute to multiple EMN outputs on migration and asylum policy in the EU Member States. This way EMN Belgium contributes to an evidence-based migration and asylum policy in the EU and Belgium.

The government Di Rupo published on 1 December 2011 its coalition agreement. We summarize the most important political goals of the new government with regard to migration and asylum

Eurostat presents its report 'Migrants in Europe - A Statistical Portrait of the First and Second Generation'

The report of the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (Centre) offers facts and figures on migration flows to Belgium up to 2009

On December, 20, 2011,The Directive 2011/95/EC was published. The Qualification directive sets standards for the identification of people in need of international protection in the EU either as refugees or as beneficiaries of subsidiary protection.

On 16 December 2011, the Council of Ministers prolonged the temporary provisions concerning restrictions of free access to the labour market for Bulgarian and Romanian workers till 31 December 2013

ECtHR finds Belgium violated Article 3 and 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights by detaining a mother and three children during asylum procedure

Directive 2011/98/EC is a directive on a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State and on a common set of rights for third-country workers legally residing in a Member State

In the framework of the formation of a Federal Government, Ms Maggie De Block (Open-VLD) has been appointed as State Secretary for Migration and Asylum Policy and Social Integration. Ms De Block has been sworn in on 6 December 2011

Every month, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons publishes a document containing the statistics on the asylum applications and the decisions taken.

The EMN-informs are providing a brief summary of the main policy-relevant findings from an EMN activity.

The Christian Michelsen Institute published a report commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration on the Norwegian Information, Return, and Reintegration of Iraqi Nationals to Iraq (IRRINI) Programme. The research has been done in cooperation with the University of Duhok.

Today, the International Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives, adopted a draft law amending provisions relating to the regularization for medical reasons, in order to avoid abuse of this procedure and in particular to discourage manifestly unfounded claims.

The Council approved today amendments to the directive on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection and the content of the protection granted, to be transposed into national law within 2 years.

The Commission highlights the need for the EU to strengthen its external migration policy by setting up a Global Approach to Migration through partnerships with non-EU countries that address issues related to migration and mobility in a way that makes cooperation mutually beneficial

The MAFE project is a major research initiative focused on migration between Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. It brings together nine European and African research centres working on international migrations