For the first time in Europe, Fedasil and IOM organized on Monday 1st February 2016 a chartered flight to Baghdad for the voluntary return of 106 persons to Iraq.

The 2015 Annual Report on trafficking and smuggling in human beings is now available in English. This report is produced by Myria, the Belgian Federal Migration Centre and the independent National Rapporteur on trafficking in human beings.

This EASO newsletter provides information on the election of new executive director José Carreira (PT) and chairman Wolfgang Taucher (AT) of the EASO managment board.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation to gather views on the functioning of the existing legislation aiming at preventing and countering migrant smuggling and on what could be done to further strengthen it.

Looking at the migration/refugee crisis, the College of Commissioners looked back at measures taken in 2015 and the initiatives to be presented in 2016 to further develop collective European action and deliver clear and tangible results.

In 2015, the number of asylum applications filed in Belgium doubled compared to 2014, and the protection rate reached an all-time high.

During the first six months of 2016, the Dutch Presidency will work on the priorities agreed with Slovakia and Malta in an 18 month trio programme setting long-term goals for the period January 2016-June 2017.

The European Council on 17-18 December 2015 agreed to speed up actions on the operation of hotspots, the implementation of relocation decisions and returns, the control of external borders and cooperation with third countries.

On the occasion of the International Migrants Day, Myria launches a new online platform, Myriapolis, to help the wider public better understand migration in all aspects of life.

The Migration Policy Center dedicates a website to the migrant crisis in order to provide a wide audience with the facts needed to understand the course of events in this matter.

The Commission is proposing to establish a European Border and Coast Guard and also to introduce systematic checks against relevant databases for all people entering and exiting the Schengen area.

During the third quarter of 2015 (July to September 2015), 413 800 first-time asylum seekers applied for international protection in the Member States of the EU, a number almost double that of the second quarter of 2015.

The conference of the Belgian National Contact Point to the EMN– which took place on 4 December in Brussels – focused on challenges and opportunities associated with the return of irregular and vulnerable migrants.

The package of programmes is the single biggest EU measure in response to the Syrian refugee crisis to date.

Justice and Home Affairs Ministers met in Brussels to discuss how to strengthen the following measures, inter alia: EU Passenger Name Record Directive, controls of external borders, information sharing and law enforcement cooperation.

The Commission is referring Belgium for failing to transpose the Single Permit Directive. The Commission proposes a daily penalty of 52,828.16 euros.

On 11-12 November, the Valletta summit on migration brought together European and African Heads of State and Government in an effort to strengthen cooperation and address the current challenges but also the opportunities of migration.

On the occasion of an informal meeting following the Valletta Summit, heads of state or government focus on the migration crisis, the future of Schengen and cooperation with Turkey.

Home Affairs Ministers focused in particular on speeding up the relocation process, strengthening the EU's external borders, fighting human trafficking and smuggling, and return and readmission.

As from 9 November 2015, an asylum seeker can obtain a C work permit four months after applying for asylum. The 6 month period was cut to 4 months by a Royal Decree which entered into force today.

Between 2014 and 2020, the EU will support Niger through the Emergency Trust Fund, inter alia to better manage migration flows, through improved border management and increased support to fight against trafficking and smuggling networks.

Today, a first group of 30 asylum seekers was relocated from Greece to Luxembourg, in the framework of the EU's relocation scheme.

On 3rd of November 2015, the General Policy Note on Asylum and Migration of the State Secretary for Asylum Policy and Migration was published. It defines the main orientations and actions to be taken in the field of asylum and migration in 2016.

EU statistics on first residence permits in 2014 have been issued today. Eurostat explains key statistical findings.

Today, the European Commission adopted two decisions in relation to the EU's Emergency Trust Fund for Africa announced by President Juncker in his State of the Union speech last September