On 18-19 June 2013, governments and experts shared experiences in order to identify better ways to engage, enable and enpower diaspora communities and promote them as development actors.

The European Commission has released a new Communication entitled “Maximising the Development Impact of Migration” recommending ways in which migration and mobility can contribute to inclusive and economic social development and how to strengthen global cooperation in this area.

This Conference looked into the strengths and weaknesses of reception system for asylum seekers in terms of quality, efficiency and flexibility. Speakers from Belgium, France and the UK provided a comparative perspective.

Fedasil invites you to discover the daily life of women residing in a reception centre for asylum seekers. The Transit51 foto exhibition is to be seen from 8 to 31 March in Brussels.

The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) judgement dated from 23 October 2012, highlighting some deficiencies in foreign children's rights in Belgium, was published today.

On 20 March, the fifth lecture of the IES Series will focus on EU anti-discrimination policies. The question is" Did it reduce ethnic discrimination in the Member States?"

The the January/February edition of the European Asylum Support Office’s newsletter was launched.

At the occasion of the IE EMN NCP conference in Dublin, a wide audience, including national policy makers and experts as well as representatives from the Commission and other NCPs, discussed protection challenges.

This Eurostat news release shows that workers remittances amounted to 39.1 billion euro in 2011, up by 2% compared with 2010.

On 29th November in Paris, the French NCP organised a conference on the CEAS. The next day there was a EMN-Cluster Meeting on reception conditions for asylum seekers in the EU: "existing mechanisms and good practices”

This conference takes place within the framework of the project "Awareness raising of the risks associated with irregular migration and support to vocational reintegration of migrants in the Republic of Congo" (2011-2012).

The Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) achieved a Political Agreement on the Reception Conditions Directive, discussed recent developments in Syria and council conclusions were endorsed concerning the new EU strategy to combat human trafficking.

The Belgian Council of Ministers decided to provide a subsidy to finance prefabricated schools in Syrian refugee camps in Turkey. The assistance is provided in the framework of the policy on conflict prevention of Foreign Affairs.

ISC Intelligence in Science, together with Emer Costello MEP, organise a seminar to explore the impact of Diaspora on EU policy priorities and examine options for Diaspora as a theme of EU policy.

The European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) gave the green light to an agreement to recast the Reception Conditions Directive.

GFMD 2012 will focus on "Enhancing the Human Development of Migrants and their Contribution to the Development of Communities and States". A provisional agenda (as of 3 September 2012) was presented at the High Level Working Group on Asylum and Migration on 13 September.

The law of January 19, 2012 introduced the concept of a “return track” for asylum seekers, a framework for individual counseling on return, offered by the Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil). New instructions implement this return track in the reception centres.