As the end of the year is approaching, the team of the Belgian Contact Point to the European Migration Network (EMN) wishes you a happy holiday season. We also wish you and your loved ones, all the best for the new year!

After three years of negotiations, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have reached an agreement on the core political elements of five key regulations that will thoroughly overhaul the EU's legal framework on asylum and migration. 

The European Migration Network (EMN), marks a significant milestone this year, celebrating 15 years of dedicated service providing objective, comparable, and policy-relevant information on emerging issues related to asylum and migration. For this occasion, the EMN publishes a document spotlighting its most influential achievements and contributions from 2018 to 2022 at both EU and national levels.

In a press release published today, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGVS) announced that it would unblock the suspended cases of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and start again to process all Palestinian cases.

Each year, International Migrants Day is observed on 18 December. Designated by the United Nations General Assembly on 4 December 2000, in response to increasing migration around the world, the day aims to draw attention to migrants' human rights and highlight their contribution to our societies.

Today, the European Parliament adopted a resolution wrapping up the fact-finding investigation by the Working Group on Frontex Scrutiny with 366 votes in favour, 154 against, and 15 abstaining. The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) inter alia share concerns over the situation in Greece, Lithuania and Hungary.

At the Global Refugee Forum this week in Geneva, EU Member States announced their collective pledge for 2024 - 2025: 61.000 new places combined for resettlement and humanitarian admission for people in need of international protection. Of these, 31.000 are for resettlement, to be implemented in close cooperation with UNHCR, and 30.000 are for humanitarian admission.

The European Crime Prevention Award (ECPA) and Best Practice Conference (BPC) will focus on the trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation and other kinds of exploitation.

The Global Refugee Forum 2023 will be the opportunity to build on the progress made by States and stakeholders towards the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees and of pledges and initiatives announced since the first Forum in 2019.

According to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, 4.260 persons obtained Belgian nationality in September 2023. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in September are Morocco, Syria, Romania, Afghanistan and Italy.

This morning, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo officially presented the program and priorities of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union. From 1 January 2024, Belgium will be at the head of all meetings and negotiations within the Council of the European Union for six months.

EMN Serbia, which newly joined the European Migration Network as an Observer Country in March 2023, organises its first national conference. The conference will focus on circular migration schemes and diasporas moving back to their countries of origin. 

While a draft law introducing a new right of residence for stateless persons is currently being discussed in Parliament, ENS and Nansen underline that the project has a large number of formal and substantive conditions and reduced procedural guarantees. They conclude that it is not compatible with the obligation to have a fair, effective and accessible procedure for the access of stateless people to their rights.

The Return Expert Group (REG) within the EMN conducted a successful workshop dedicated to advancing multistakeholder governance towards case resolution of undocumented migrants. Facilitated by EMN Belgium and the Belgian Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil), this event focused on fostering connections between national authorities, local administrations and civil society organisations (CSOs). 

The first 15 asylum seekers have arrived today at the new Fedasil reception centre in Grimbergen. The new reception centre, which will accommodate up to 100 people, is specifically intended for people with medical problems, as well as their families.

On the proposal of the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor, the Council of Ministers agreed today on the extension of support measures for the reception and support of asylum seekers in the Brussels-Capital Region. A total of 2000 places are now available for asylum seekers who cannot immediately get a place in the Fedasil reception network.

Myria has published the sixth thematic section of its 2023 annual report. This section entitled "International protection" reports that the refusal rate for asylum seekers from Afghanistan in 2022 is higher in Belgium (56%) than the average for EU countries (47%). In the event of return, some Afghan asylum seekers could risk degrading or even inhuman treatment (prohibited by Article 3 of the ECHR), given the current situation in Afghanistan.

The Hungarian National Contact Point to the European Migration Network organizes its national conference on the effects of the war in Ukraine on migration in Hungary.

At a conference today, the European Commission proposed new legislation to prevent and fight migrant smuggling and also launched a call to action for a Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling.

This virtual event is part of the OECD COP28 Virtual Pavilion, which runs from 23 November to 12 December 2023. The pavilion presents key OECD contributions with insights to drive ambitious and globally effective action on climate change.