The annual report contains a complete overview of the asylum figures of 2020. It also focuses on the impact of COVID-19, on the functioning of the CGRS and on the international asylum context.

The annual report is available in Dutch and French in an online version and in PDF format.

On 15 December, EMN Belgium and the EMN Return Expert Group hosted a webinar on Alternatives to Detention. The online event focused on the current legal framework on alternatives to detention, the implementation of these alternatives in practice and the identification of emerging good practices and pilot projects.

On 15 December, EMN Belgium and the EMN Return Expert Group will host a half-day webinar on Alternatives to Detention. The online event focuses on the current legal framework on alternatives to detention, the implementation of these alternatives in practice and the identification of emerging good practices and pilot projects.

On 16 September 2020, the Interior Committee of the Belgian House of Representatives held a parliamentary hearing on a legislative proposal concerning the prohibition of detention of minors. EMN Belgium contributed to the hearing by presenting the laws, policies and practices in other EU Member States.

On 25 June 2020, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) will launch the 2020 edition of its annual flagship EASO Asylum Report. Due to the COVID-19 situation, this year EASO will be holding an online event to present and discuss the findings of the report, as well as developing asylum trends in the EU. 

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, personal interviews of applicants for international protection at the CGRS were stopped in March. They were started again in June. To improve the safety of staff and applicants, a video with practical instructions was created.

Voluntary returns to the countries of origin are decreasing for the third consecutive year.

On 10 December 2019, EMN Belgium organises 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 and return will be discussed.

_{The conference 'From Tampere 20 to Tampere 2.0: Towards a new programme (2020-2024) for EU migration and asylum policies 20 years after the Tampere conclusions?' was held in Helsinki on the 24th and the 25th of October.}

Voluntary returns to the countries of origin are decreasing. Among others, this is the result of the lower number of asylum applications during the past years.

On 18 January a conference will take place in Brussels organised by the federal Migration Centre Myria, the Académie Royale des Sciences et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten and newspaper Le Soir. The focus will be on international protection and economic migration.

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. 

This conference seeks to shed light on the interesting topic of returning third-country nationals who have entered or stayed irregularly in the EU, as well as on their subsequent reintegration.