The Education Department of Caritas International Belgium, in collaboration with the non-profit organisation Sankaa, has launched "Building Bridges", an educational resource for secondary school teachers. This resource helps educators address key topics such as identity, prejudice, racism, and media representation. At its core, "Building Bridges" explores the central question: How can we create a more supportive and inclusive society where everyone has a place?

About sixty Eritrean refugees gathered in front of the Town Hall in Ghent to draw the authorities' attention to the impact of the housing crisis on their situation and integration prospects. The authorities expressed their intention to find solutions but called on Minister of Asylum and Migration Anneleen Van Bossuyt to address this issue together. They also stated that they would consider a European response to this widespread problem. 

During this Networking Day, participants will examine ways to increase housing opportunities for newcomers. Through three workshops and a panel discussion, participants will bring together their experiences and expertise in the field.

On 5 February 2025, the Belgian Contact Point to the European Migration Network (EMN) took part in a roundtable in the Senate, focusing on the abandonment of sexual mutilation. The Group for the Abolition of Sexual Mutilation (GAMS) inter alia stressed that it has limited visibility on individuals arriving in Belgium through family reunification, making it more difficult to raise awareness and monitor cases of female genital mutilation in the country.

In a recent judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held that national legislation may oblige beneficiaries of international protection to pass a civic integration examination. However the fact of having failed such an examination cannot be systematically penalised by a fine.

The purpose of this conference is to address the situation of migrant women in Spain and in other Member states, highlighting the challenges and problems they face and what measures are being taken to ensure their integration and inclusion, especially with regard to access to the labour market and housing. 

According to figures released by the Immigration Office, 20.724 decisions resulted in the granting of visas for family reunification in Belgium in 2024, compared to 18.738 in 2023 and 15.901 the year before. The increase concerns several categories, in particular family reunification with a refugee or beneficiary of subsidiary protection.

EMN France's national conference will focus on the recent Inform published jointly by the EMN and OECD, which provides an overview of civic training schemes/programmes for third-country nationals in EMN Member and Observer Countries, and in non-EU OECD countries. It will also discuss educational approaches, systems and exams in place to convey and assess knowledge of civic principles and values.

The 2024 national conference of EMN Finland shall examine the state of play as well as the future prospects of the situation of Ukrainians in Finland and in EU countries. The conference aims to address the challenges of integration in a situation where beneficiaries of temporary protection find themselves between two countries. The conference seeks to support these persons in the limbo between integration and return.

This conference aims to present the first results of a Fedasil-funded mentoring-to-work project for highly skilled asylum seekers. It will discuss the challenges and opportunities of using mentoring as a pre-integration tool for asylum seekers. It will also explore the added value of mentoring for those who receive a positive decision and the challenges that arise from working with status holders.

Myria has published the third thematic section of its 2024 annual report. In this section entitled "Right to family life", Myria calls for more accurate, regular and transparent information regarding the family reunification procedure at its various stages, both at the level of diplomatic posts and external service providers, ensuring the accessibility – including linguistic – of this information for the target audience.

Due to the sharp rise in applications for the equivalence of foreign diplomas in Flanders and the time- and labour-intensive investigations involved, waiting times can reach seven months. This impacts the integration of migrants into the labour market.  

On 5 September 2024, the UN Refugee Agency was awarded the "Fair Play for Peace Award" for its ongoing work to improve the lives of refugees, displaced and stateless persons through sport, in particular following the launch of the Agency's "More than a Game" sport strategy which promotes sport as a powerful vehicle for peace, inclusion and social cohesion.

The law of 10 March 2024 amending the law of 15 December 1980 on the right to family reunification comes into force on 1 September 2024. The changes have an impact among other things on the right to family reunification for parents of accompanied minors with international protection, the right to family reunification for stateless persons, the assessment of minorhood in the asylum procedure or residence procedure for stateless person, etc.