The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on return procedures had been significant across EU countries as well as OECD countries in and outside Europe since March 2020. This Inform looks into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on voluntary and forced return procedures and on policy responses. 

24 Member States provided information on national laws and practices regarding the detention of families with children in migration procedures, the possibility to detain one of the parents and detention in the context of the age assessment process.

These three EMN Informs look into i.a. possible approaches for return counselling, support for return counsellors, and information provision for the return of migrants.

This report critically reviews the Belgian policy on return, detention and removal of foreign nationals and presents recent figures. Just like Myria's latest migration report, the report focuses on issues related to the right to family life of persons in detention. Myria formulates recommendations to improve the respect for the human rights of those persons. 

This study provides insight into the decision-making process of migrant families in family locations in the Netherlands, whose legal remedies in most cases have been exhausted, but nevertheless decide not to return.

This EMN study aims at analysing the impact of EU rules on return policies and practices of Member States (including Belgium), and hence on the effectiveness of return decisions issued across the EU.

This EMN Inform summarizes the main findings of the EMN study “The effectiveness of return in EU Member States: challenges and good practices linked to EU rules and standards”.

This Inform presents an overview of the EMN Study on “Challenges and practices for establishing the identity of third-country nationals in migration procedures”. 

The Belgian Contact Point of the European Migration Network has published a report on challenges and practices for establishing identity in the migration process. The report served as the Belgian contribution to an EU Synthesis report on the topic, which compares national policies, legislation and practices on the subject in 25 EU Member States and Norway.