A joint European Migration Network & OECD event exploring the topics of family migration and illegal employment took place in Brussels on 9 November 2017.

During the competition which has started on 31 July 2017 and closes on 27 October 2017, professional journalists are invited to submit exemplary articles and media productions on labour migration.

On the 26th of October 2017 the general policy note on asylum and migration of the State Secretary for Asylum and Migration was published. The policy note provides an overview of the main achievements and priorities in the field of asylum and migration.

Today, the Belgian National Contact Point of the European Migration Network organized an event in Brussels to discuss the irregular employment of third country nationals.

In the summer of 2017, more and more transit migrants, who wish to go to the UK, were staying in the Maximilian park in Brussels. The Belgian government did not want this park to become ‘a new Calais’. A number of transit migrants were intercepted and detained. Because a lot of them were presumed Sudanese, a Sudanese delegation was invited to come to Belgium for identification. Left-wing politicians and NGOs stressed that the Sudanese regime’s human rights record is particularly worrying. Campaigns were organised to better inform the transit migrants. On 04.10.2017 these issues were debated in the Belgian Parliament.

The European Commission published a mid-term review of what has been achieved so far in delivering the European Agenda on Migration. It also sets out new initiatives from the Commission to address key areas, and identifies where further efforts are needed in the coming months.

In the framework of the Estonian Presidency of the Council, the Estonian Contact Point of the EMN organized the annual EMN conference on 21 and 22 september in Tallinn. The event gathered key stakeholders who discussed good practices and challenges in attracting and retaining talents in the EU and in the Member States.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation to collect evidence, experiences, data and opinions to support the evaluation of the existing EU legal framework for the legal entry and stay of nationals of non-EU countries to the EU Member States. The deadline is 18 September 2017. 

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), published data on recent arrivals in Europe.  Compared with the 273,000 migrants who landed from January through Aug. 27, 2016, about 121,000 arrived during the same period this year. Furthermore, there was no evidence of any migrant dying in the Mediterranean since Aug. 9

Following up on the Commission's Action Plan to support Italy from 4 July, the EU Trust Fund for Africa adopted today a programme worth €46 million to reinforce the integrated migration and border management capacities of the Libyan authorities.

Today, the European Commission decided to refer Belgium to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to fully implement the Single Permit Directive (Directive 2011/98/EU). Designed to facilitate legal migration, the Directive introduces simplified procedures and a common set of rights for non-EU workers.

According to the Missing Migrants Project, an estimate of 7495 men, women and children migrants or refugees died or were reported missing across five continents in 2016. That is almost 20 victims per day and the number may not include them all.