01 July 2021
In the second half of 2021 EMN Belgium will continue to provide input for multiple EMN outputs. This way EMN Belgium tries to contribute to an evidence-based migration and asylum policy in Belgium and the EU and Norway.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
15 June 2021
On 10 June 2021, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published its fundamental rights report that takes stock of the developments regarding fundamental rights in the EU in 2020. Additionally, FRA also published its opinions on these developments and added a synopsis of the evidence supporting these opinions.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
11 June 2021
Since the first publication of the European Migration Network (EMN) Asylum and Migration Glossary in 2010, it has been a valuable resource for practitioners, policy-makers and researchers in the field of migration and asylum. By harmonising EU asylum and migration terms, the EMN Glossary offers an EU-wide multidisciplinary vocabulary of terms and concepts, translated into over 20 languages. The latest version of July 2020 contains approximately 500 terms.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
11 June 2021
The year 2020 brought about unforeseen developments in the areas of migration and asylum. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the number of migrants, asylum applicants and returns, and also acted as a catalyst for development of new digital solutions in asylum and migration management. These new challenges came in addition to persisting ones such as the need to continuously improve migration management systems and ensure the protection of refugees. The Annual Report on Migration and Asylum, published by the European Migration Network (EMN), provides an overview of the key developments in the EU Member States and Norway in 2020.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
11 June 2021
We are celebrating EMN Day! On 11 June we will launch the Annual Report on Migration & Asylum 2020, discussing ways to make migration management systems more effective and efficient. ? 11:00-13:00 CEST
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
07 June 2021
On 2 June 2021, the European Commission presented its new Schengen Strategy, which was accompanied by a proposal to revise the Schengen evaluation and monitoring mechanism.
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Main Theme: Borders & Visa
10 May 2021
On 5 May 2021, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe (2021-2025) to increase cooperation among member states to protect the most vulnerable persons.
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Main Theme: Vulnerable groups
22 March 2021
The Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS) launched asyluminbelgium.be. This new website provides information in nine languages about the asylum procedure in Belgium, tailored to the needs of asylum seekers.
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Main Theme: Asylum
Keywords: asylum applications, commissariat général aux réfugiés et aux apatrides
17 March 2021
Georgia and Moldova have joined the EMN in March 2021 as observers. This will enhance mutual collaboration and understanding on asylum and migration.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: Eastern Europe
21 December 2020
On 15 December, EMN Belgium and the EMN Return Expert Group hosted a webinar on Alternatives to Detention. The online event focused on the current legal framework on alternatives to detention, the implementation of these alternatives in practice and the identification of emerging good practices and pilot projects.
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Main Theme: Return & Readmission
Keywords: Conférence EMN
20 November 2020
The new State Secretary for Asylum and Migration, Sammy Mahdi (CD&V) presented his General Policy Paper on Asylum and Migration in Parliament on 18 November 2020.
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Main Theme: Migration
Keywords: policy paper
24 September 2020
On 16 September 2020, the Interior Committee of the Belgian House of Representatives held a parliamentary hearing on a legislative proposal concerning the prohibition of detention of minors. EMN Belgium contributed to the hearing by presenting the laws, policies and practices in other EU Member States.
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Main Theme: Return & Readmission
Keywords: detention, alternatives to detention, families, unaccompanied minors
18 June 2020
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, personal interviews of applicants for international protection at the CGRS were stopped in March. They were started again in June. To improve the safety of staff and applicants, a video with practical instructions was created.
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Main Theme: International Protection
Keywords: video
27 May 2020
The EMN has recently conducted a study on "Comparative overview of national protection statuses”. A short video was created to highlight some of the key findings of this study.
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Main Theme: Regularization
Keywords: video
07 May 2020
Today EMN Belgium has launched a Twitter account to better disseminate EMN outputs.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: médias sociaux
07 May 2020
Border closures and quarantine rules to prevent the spreading of Covid-19 risk having a negative impact on seasonal work. To address labour shortages in the agricultural and horticultural sectors, the federal and regional governments decided to adopt a series of measures in the spring of 2020.
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Main Theme: Economic migration
Keywords: seasonal labour
27 April 2020
In 2020 EMN Belgium will continue to contribute to multiple EMN outputs on migration and asylum policy in the EU Member States. This way EMN Belgium contributes to an evidence-based migration and asylum policy in the EU and Belgium.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: research
12 February 2020
Voluntary returns to the countries of origin are decreasing for the third consecutive year.
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Main Theme: Return & Readmission
Keywords: voluntary return
16 December 2019
On 10 December 2019, EMN Belgium organized its annual asylum and migration policy event in which recent national and EU developments in the field of international protection, legal migration and integration, and irregular migration and return were discussed.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: conférence annuelle du REM
06 November 2019
This report provides a broad overview of recent trends in international migration flows and migration policies in OECD countries and some non-OECD countries.
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Main Theme: Economic migration
Keywords: OECD
25 October 2019
The conference 'From Tampere 20 to Tampere 2.0: Towards a new programme (2020-2024) for EU migration and asylum policies 20 years after the Tampere conclusions?' was held in Helsinki on the 24th and the 25th of October.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional, Integration, External Dimension, International Protection, Economic migration, Irregular Migration
Keywords: Dublin Regulation, CEAS, EMN Annual Conference
25 October 2019
On 22 October 2019, the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities (VVSG) published the results of the survey conducted in the spring of 2019. The results show that especially the search for housing for beneficiaries of international protection is very problematic. The regulations state that, in principle, they must leave the Local Reception Initiative (LOI) within two months. As in the VVSG survey of 2017, half of the respondents do not consider this period to be feasible. For almost 1 in 5, finding housing within this timeframe very exceptionally the case, and only thanks to the possibility to extend the stay in the LOI twice by 1 month.
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Main Theme: Integration
Keywords: huisvesting, LOI's, discriminatie
23 October 2019
On 8 October 2019, Fedasil launched the new information platform www.fedasilinfo.be. The mobile website provides applicants for international protection (asylum seekers) in Belgium with reliable information in 12 languages, 8 of which include an audio version.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: information for applicants for international protection
20 June 2019
On the occasion of the World Refugee Day, which is organized every year on 20th June by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Eurostat published an infographic on annual asylum data for 2018 . Eurostat also published its Asylum quarterly report. In the first quarter of 2019, the number of first-time asylum applicants slightly increased : 4% more compared to the 4th quarter of 2018.