This very first edition of the IOM Brussels Country Office (CO) Year Report will give you a brief overview of activities undertaken in 2012 allowing a focus on specific areas of interest linked to the Belgian and Luxembourg migration context and more broadly to the European and global context.

In this background note, the ACP Observatory on Migration assesses return migration in a South-South context, proposing return definitions, typologies and trends as well as a summary of current policies and best practices.

The Expert Conference on Return and Reintegration, jointly organised by Belgium’s Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil), the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), and the Migration Policy institute Europe (MPI-E) marked a significant moment during the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

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.

This year, the EMN Conference aims to support the policymaking process on a number of key areas of irregular migration policy, namely readmission, return, reintegration and cooperation with countries of transit and origin, as well as re-entry bans and (alternatives to) detention.

The ERI Final Conference, which will take place in Brussels on 6 February, will address the experiences gained, results achieved and ideas for future cooperation in the area of return and reintegration.