The Joint Operational Team (JOT) Mare, a new initiative aiming to tackle the organised criminal groups who are facilitating the journeys of migrants by ships across the Mediterranean Sea to the European Union, has been launched today.

On the occasion of the European Parliament plenary session of 13 January 2015, Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos spoke on human smuggling in the Mediterranean and the needed reaction of the EU

The Foreign affairs (development) Council meeting of 12 December 2014 has adopted a number of conclusions in the field of migration and development cooperation emphasizing the positive migration and development circle and orientations to strengthen this relation.

On the occasion of 25 November 2014 EP Plenary Debate on Migration, EU new Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, introduced the debate and presented the EU main orientations and policy fields for an integrated approach on migration and asylum

On 11 November 2014, the European Commission has released its 6th bi-annual report on the functioning of the Schengen area covering the period from 1 May to 31 October 2014.

On 20 October 2014, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, has opened an investigation into how Frontex ensures the respect of fundamental rights of migrants who are subject to forced returns from the EU to their countries of origin.

The European Commission published on 26 September 2014 a handbook to help EU Member States take action against marriages of convenience between EU citizens and non-EU nationals in the context of EU law on free movement. The Commission prepared the handbook in close cooperation with Member States.

After ten years of support to families, through its centre of private international family law, the ADDE proposes to study some actual problems experienced by the beneficiaries of the centre.

2013 statistics on enforcement of immigration legislation have been released by Eurostat in September 2014.

In the past few days more than 300 people died as a consequence of three different incidents with vessels that were trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa to Europe.

This year, the EMN Conference aims to support the policymaking process on a number of key areas of irregular migration policy, namely readmission, return, reintegration and cooperation with countries of transit and origin, as well as re-entry bans and (alternatives to) detention.

The 7th Meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) will take place in Stockholm on 14-16 May 2014. The GFMD Civil Society Days are held prior to the meeting, on 12-13 May 2014.

In preparation of the Global Forum on Migration and Development Meeting in Stockholm the 14th to 16th May the Transatlantic Council on Migration published a Council Statement: How Migration Can Advance Development Goals.

The Court of Cassation ruled today that an administrative fine is due for carrying someone who doesn't hold documents to enter or transit Belgium, even if at the border an authorization to enter is issued.

Prof. Luis E. Guarnizo (University of California, Davis) will explore the epistemic and ontological origins and evolution of transnationalism as an analytical perspective in migration studies since its origins in the early 1990s.