Myria, the Federal Migration Centre and independent national rapporteur on trafficking in human beings, published its independent and public annual report “Victims: Seeing Them and Listening to Them” on 8 December 2025. The report draws attention to the psychological vulnerabilities of victims of human trafficking and calls, inter alia, for strengthened training and specialisation of professionals on the specific psychological vulnerabilities and needs of these victims.

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, warns that externalised asylum and migration policies must be carefully designed to avoid serious human rights risks. His report highlights how transferring asylum, return, and border control functions to other countries can expose migrants to torture, arbitrary detention, and collective expulsions. Particular risks arise in the external processing of asylum claims, return procedures including “return hubs,” and outsourcing of border control. The Commissioner calls on states to adopt precautionary approaches, safeguard vulnerable people, and ensure transparency and accountability.

Each year, the Immigration Office publishes an activity report. This annual report presents the activities of the Immigration Office over 2024, providing figures inter alia on entry and stay, vulnerable groups, international protection, the fight against irregular migration, return, and misuse of procedures.

When countries outside the EU encourage or organise the movement of migrants to put pressure on the Union or its Member States, this is called the instrumentalisation of migration. This position paper from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) explains what this means, why it matters, and how the EU can respond. It highlights the need to balance measures against political manipulation with the obligation to respect people’s fundamental rights. The paper warns that some responses risk undermining the right to asylum and other protections at the EU’s external borders.

The Fundamental Rights Report 2025 provides an overview of the state of fundamental rights in the EU, highlighting key developments and trends observed in 2024. The report includes a dedicated section on ‘Migration and asylum at the EU’s external borders’, which addresses, among other issues, challenges related to search and rescue operations, incidents of ill-treatment and rights violations at borders, concerns about border procedures under the New Pact, and fundamental rights risks associated with proposed return policies.

This research paper introduces the "IRMIGRIGHT", the first bespoke database of social and labour rights of irregularly staying migrants in twenty-eight European countries. A number of findings emerge from the data analysis, including the fact that, on average, irregularly staying migrants have significantly weaker social rights than labour rights.

In its annual report, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS) provides a comprehensive overview of asylum figures for 2024, along with key internal developments and initiatives aimed at improving efficiency and decision-making. The report also addresses upcoming procedural changes, international cooperation efforts, new competences related to statelessness and vulnerable applicants, staffing and organisational improvements, and clarifications on operational and budgetary resources.

This JRC Science for Policy report provides a comprehensive understanding of migration narratives and their impact on public perception and policy. It seeks to equip policymakers and communication professionals with the insights and tools needed to navigate the complex landscape of migration narratives and promote a more nuanced and evidence-based understanding of migration in a political context often tainted by misinformation and divisive rhetoric.

The 2025 SIRIUS Migrant Education Policy Index introduces a novel framework for evaluating inclusive education policies across 15 EU Member States. Structured around seven key dimensions, the Index highlights existing disparities and effective practices in supporting migrant learners. It underscores the urgent need for systemic reforms to ensure equitable and high-quality education for all students, regardless of migration background. The report advocates for a learner-centred approach prioritising structural flexibility, cultural and linguistic inclusion, and coordinated policy interventions.

This report provides a diagnosis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Flemish framework for management of economic migration and recommendations for possible areas of reform. The report also presents some of the first empirical analyses of retention and outcomes of economic migrants in Flanders. 

In this annual forecast, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) outlines the 10 migration issues that can shape international migration in 2025. The search for "innovative solutions" to irregular migration and a European Union focusing on return are among the points of attention. 

This final report, realised by the Study and Policy Unit of the Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil), describes the reception of vulnerable applicants for international protection with specific needs. It discusses how (field) staff define, identify and respond to vulnerability in practice. The objective is to develop a better understanding of the way in which Fedasil and its reception partners fulfill the requirement of Belgian and European legislation to meet the specific needs of applicants for international protection.

This report critically reviews the Belgian policy on return, detention and removal of foreign nationals and presents recent figures. Just like Myria's latest migration report, the report focuses on issues related to the right to family life of persons in detention. Myria formulates recommendations to improve the respect for the human rights of those persons. 

The strategic partnership of the European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) published “The Way Forward – A reflection paper on the new proposals for EU funds on Asylum, Migration and Integration 2021-2027”. This reflection paper addresses the proposals of most relevance to beneficiaries of the current Asylum Migration & Integration Fund (AMIF) 2014-20, and those that are proposed to be implemented by Member States via ‘shared management’ arrangements (National Programmes). It concentrates mainly on the proposed Asylum & Migration Fund (AMF) and European Social Fund+ (ESF+).

This research, commissioned for the eighteenth plenary meeting of the Transatlantic Council of Migration, an initiative of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), examines the entanglement of immigration with broader concerns about the economic, social and cultural effects of globalization, as well as the public’s growing lack of confidence in government to manage issues such as immigration.

The European Commission has published the new "Feasibility study on sponsorship schemes as a possible pathway to safe channels for admission to the EU". Finalised in October 2018, its outcomes confirm that private sponsorship schemes can efficiently contribute to meeting the goal of promoting safe and legal channels of admission to the EU of those in need of international protection.

The Commission will therefore consider ways in which Member States could be best supported in establishing such schemes.

As independent National Rapporteur on trafficking in human beings for Belgium, for over 20 years Myria has carried out a yearly independent policy evaluation. In its latest report on Human Trafficking and Smuggling Myria focuses on underage victims of trafficking and smuggling of human beings.

In this Myriacts Myria notes that the immigration from the new EU member states is increasing, a proportional decrease in immigration from the EU-15 countries, a considerable and recent reduction in the immigration of Moroccans and Turks and finaly an increase in the immigration from West Asia, especially from countries at war.

This report provides a broad overview of recent trends in international migration flows and migration policies in OECD countries and some non-OECD countries.

This paper, which is entitled 'The EU’s New Migration Partnership with Mali: Shifting towards a Risky Security-Migration-Development Nexus', seeks to understand why and how the EU has been redefining its migration strategy regarding Mali.

This study provides insight into the decision-making process of migrant families in family locations in the Netherlands, whose legal remedies in most cases have been exhausted, but nevertheless decide not to return.

In this annual report Myria analyses the current migration and tests policy and practice against respect for fundamental rights. Myria draws conclusions and formulates policy recommandations. 

This publication takes stock of recent EU developments in the area of asylum, borders and external cooperation on migration.

This new policy brief offers a critical analysis of the reignited trend of externalised EU migration policies that appear to be moving towards a model of offshore processing, as used by Australia. By looking at the proposed CEAS reform, it lays out the fundamental concerns connected with the use of such a model and notes the flaws in the economic and “migration management” justifications for offshoring.

One of the greatest challenges facing twenty-first century Europe is the mass migration and integration of refugees who cross borders in search of safer lives. This report of the European Foundation for Democracy analyses the wide-ranging issues relating to the integration of refugees in seven European countries, including Belgium) and presents our key findings – both in terms of good practices and areas for concern – as well as recommendations for change.