Frontex revealed today that the number of detections of irregular border crossings at EU’s external borders rose by one fifth (+18%) in the first eight months of 2023 to over 232 350 and that this increase was primarily driven by the number of arrivals through the Central Mediterranean, which remains the main migratory route into the EU. 

The organisation reports a huge increase in the number of vulnerable young asylum seekers who disappear in Belgium. The number of disappearances could double this year, compared to 2022 which had 136 cases.

Today, the Council of State ruled that the use of the extreme emergency procedure was justified and that the decision not to offer shelter to single male asylum seekers violates the right to reception that asylum seekers have by law.

In her 2023 State of the Union Address, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, focused inter alia on migration issues. She underlined that an agreement on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum has never been so close.

Today, the European Migration Network (EMN) Belgium was invited to present the results of an upcoming publication to members of the Flemish Agency for Internal Affairs as well as to take part in a coordination meeting between the four integration contact points in Belgium (for Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels, and the German-speaking community).

The first residents have arrived today in the reception center in Alveringem (West Flanders). These are Syrian families who were resettled from Lebanon.

In its judgment in Case T-600/21 | WS and Others v Frontex, the General Court dismissed today the action of a number of Syrian refugees who had brought a claim for compensation before the General Court of the European Union. The applicants claimed that Frontex engaged in improper conduct with regard to them.

The European Union Agency for Asylum just released the latest asylum trends for the period January - June 2023. During the first half of 2023, applications for asylum rose to 519.000, a 28 % increase compared to the first half of 2022. As a result of the increase, many EU+ countries are under pressure with processing applications and protecting those in need.

The European Migration Network (EMN) Belgium was at the European Parliament today for a presentation on “The Power of Labour Mobility Pilot Projects to Support the EU Legal Migration Reform”, organised by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).

Flanders has published a new list of medium-skilled shortage occupations open to migration which enters into force today. The new list has been adapted to the current economic reality and labor market situation - it now contains 29 positions.

Walloon Minister-President Elio Di Rupo has written to Prime Minister Alexander De Croo to call for the regularisation of undocumented immigrants capable of working in jobs in short supply, reports L’Echo.

Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor has decided to temporarily stop receiving single males in the national network for the reception of asylum seekers. Through this decision, the Secretary of State intends to anticipate “the growing influx of families and children to absolutely avoid children ending up on the streets in winter.”

The Federal Institute is tasked with regularly examining the situation of persons deprived of their liberty through preventive visits, making recommendations to the competent authorities and proposing legislation and verifying its compatibility with international standards.

Today, the first residents have arrived in the new reception centre in Walcourt, which can host 49 asylum seekers. Other residents, mainly families, will arrive gradually over the next few days.

In a national study released in July 2023, EMN Belgium reviews the Belgian policy and practice regarding detention and alternatives to detention. The study clarifies which detention places and alternatives to detention exist in Belgium, how the decision-making process unfolds and how detention and its alternatives are actually implemented.

According to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, 3.721 persons obtained Belgian nationality in May 2023. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in May are Morocco, Syria, Romania, Afghanistan and Italy.

According to data on first residence permits published by Eurostat, almost 3,7 million first residence permits were issued in the EU to non-EU citizens in 2022, a 26% increase (+753 445 permits) compared with 2021. This figure does not include persons granted authorization to reside and benefiting from temporary protection status for which statistics are collected under a separate data collection framework. 

As part of his “Turbo Plan”, Flemish Minister for the Interior and Civic Integration, Bart Somers (Open VLD) wants newly-arrived third-country nationals without a high school diploma to undergo training in order to be able to practice a bottleneck profession. This training would be part of the civic integration programme.

The Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration tasked the Immigration Office to implement a prevention campaign to make people in Nigeria aware of the dangers of human trafficking, exploitation and the risks associated with irregular migration. 

Today, the Minister of Justice, Mr. Vincent Van Quickenborne, officially launched the campaign in Liège. On this occasion, he inaugurated the new telephone number - 078 055 800 - of the Belgian helpline for victims of human trafficking.

Myria has published the fourth thematic section of its 2023 annual report. This section entitled "Economic migration, free movement en students" reports that 8.098 long-stay visas were granted for professional reasons to third-country nationals in 2022 (46% more than in 2021) and 19.721 single permits were issued to third-country nationals in 2022 (75% more than in 2021).

In a new article published today, the Migration Policy Institute reviews definitions of climate migration and questions the value of such a definition. It explores the difficulties of distinguishing climate migrants from other kinds of economic or humanitarian migrants, particularly in low- and lower-middle-income countries, and it highlights that the populations most vulnerable to climate change are often those who cannot migrate. 

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Camara v. Belgium, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 6 (right to a fair hearing) of the European Convention on Human Rights. It could not accept that the time taken by the Belgian authorities in the present case to enforce a court order aimed at protecting human dignity had been reasonable.

Today, Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi and Secretary of State of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad, Mounir Ben Rjiba, signed a memorandum of understanding covering macro-economic stability, trade and investment, green energy transition, people-to-people contacts, and migration. 

During the first six months of 2023, the Belgian Red Cross-Flanders already helped 152 people – mostly refugees – in their search for lost relatives. That is the highest number since 2017. The organisation is looking for volunteers who want to commit at least 6 hours a week to help find the missing relatives.