On 12 December 2018, the Belgian contact point of the EMN organized its annual asylum and migration policy event in which recent national and EU developments in the field of international protection, legal migration and integration and irregular migration, human trafficking and return were discussed. 

Following the release of its EASO Guidance on reception conditions: operational standards and indicators in December 2016, EASO has just issued the EASO guidance on contingency planning in the context of reception.

The government approved on 24 March 2018 a new reduction plan for reception places for applicants for international protection. Today the reception network consists of 23,815 reception places. This should be reduced to 16,629 reception places in 2019, of which 10,044 collective places and 6,585 individual reception places. With this plan, the network returns to the level preceding the reception crisis.

Due to the decreasing inflow of asylum seekers in Belgium, the reception network will be gradually decreased and the implementation of the new reception model will be resumed.

What future for the Dublin system ? Will this new regulation make it more efficient, fair and respectful of fundamental rights ? These questions will be addressed during the debate organized by the Odysseus Academic Network.

Today, the Council of Ministers has approved the proposal of the State Secretary for Asylum Policy and Migration to gradually reduce the Belgian reception capacity.

This MPI webinar aims at discussing what it takes to set up and manage an asylum reception system that can simultaneously meet the demands of flexibility, quality, and efficiency.

On 15th February, a new vaccination campaign has been launched for newly arrived asylum seekers.