The new Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration and for Social Integration, Maggie De Block (Open VLD), underligned her willingness to act "with determination" against abuses and fraud in the asylum and family reunification procedures, while respecting everyone's rights.

Every month, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons publishes a document containing the statistics on the asylum applications and the decisions taken. The statistical overview for December also provides an overview for the complete year 2011.

The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) has recently published its Work Programme 2012. During its 2nd year of operations, EASO will consolidate the work undertaken in 2011 and start new tasks in accordance with the EASO founding Regulation.

The UCSIA workshop welcomes researchers, doctoral students and other experts to share and discuss their scholarly ideas and practices on Population Change and Europe: Thinking Beyond the Demographic Divide . The date for submitting your proposal is 15 January 2012.

Do human rights offer real protection? Does it help victims of human trafficking to define their case as a violation of human rights? Such questions will be examined and debated at the university of Antwerp on 19 January 2012.

In "Exils", classed somewhere between a documentary and an imagination, reality and virtual reality, actors and marionettes tell how the destiny of an exile stranded at Lampedusa intertwines with that of a police officer charged with the expulsion of new refugees.

The government Di Rupo published on 1 December 2011 its coalition agreement. We summarize the most important political goals of the new government with regard to migration and asylum

Eurostat presents its report 'Migrants in Europe - A Statistical Portrait of the First and Second Generation'

The report of the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (Centre) offers facts and figures on migration flows to Belgium up to 2009

On December, 20, 2011,The Directive 2011/95/EC was published. The Qualification directive sets standards for the identification of people in need of international protection in the EU either as refugees or as beneficiaries of subsidiary protection.

On 16 December 2011, the Council of Ministers prolonged the temporary provisions concerning restrictions of free access to the labour market for Bulgarian and Romanian workers till 31 December 2013

Directive 2011/98/EC is a directive on a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State and on a common set of rights for third-country workers legally residing in a Member State

ECtHR finds Belgium violated Article 3 and 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights by detaining a mother and three children during asylum procedure

In the framework of the formation of a Federal Government, Ms Maggie De Block (Open-VLD) has been appointed as State Secretary for Migration and Asylum Policy and Social Integration. Ms De Block has been sworn in on 6 December 2011

Every month, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons publishes a document containing the statistics on the asylum applications and the decisions taken.

The EMN-informs are providing a brief summary of the main policy-relevant findings from an EMN activity.

The Christian Michelsen Institute published a report commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration on the Norwegian Information, Return, and Reintegration of Iraqi Nationals to Iraq (IRRINI) Programme. The research has been done in cooperation with the University of Duhok.