04 January 2024
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) looks forward to cooperating with the Belgian and Hungarian Presidencies of the Council of the European Union and stands ready to offer its continued support and expertise. With a view to building this partnership, the IOM publishes some recommendations on migration and mobility for 2024.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: Belgian Presidency, Hungarian Presidency, Council of the European Union, recommendation
02 January 2024
While in the past, Somali applicants from southern and central Somalia, with the exception of Mogadishu, were generally granted subsidiary protection status because of the security situation, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGVS) now concludes that no region in Somalia is characterized by an exceptional situation in which the degree of indiscriminate violence is so high that it reaches the "real risk" threshold leading per se to the granting of subsidiary protection.
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Main Theme: International Protection
Keywords: Somalia
01 January 2024
For the next six months, Belgium will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a position it hasn't held since 2010. The Belgian Presidency will be particularly important as it will steer the debates on the European Council’s Strategic Agenda and lead up to the European Parliament elections in June 2024.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: Belgian Presidency, Council of the European Union
01 January 2024
As of today, 1 January 2024, the people of Kosovo with biometric passports no longer require visas when travelling for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period to all 27 Schengen Area countries.
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Main Theme: Borders & Visa
Keywords: visa liberalisation, Schengen area, Kosovo
22 December 2023
As the end of the year is approaching, the team of the Belgian Contact Point to the European Migration Network (EMN) wishes you a happy holiday season. We also wish you and your loved ones, all the best for the new year!
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
20 December 2023
After three years of negotiations, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have reached an agreement on the core political elements of five key regulations that will thoroughly overhaul the EU's legal framework on asylum and migration.
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20 December 2023
The European Migration Network (EMN), marks a significant milestone this year, celebrating 15 years of dedicated service providing objective, comparable, and policy-relevant information on emerging issues related to asylum and migration. For this occasion, the EMN publishes a document spotlighting its most influential achievements and contributions from 2018 to 2022 at both EU and national levels.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: European Migration Network, impact analysis, 15th anniversary
19 December 2023
In a press release published today, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGVS) announced that it would unblock the suspended cases of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and start again to process all Palestinian cases.
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Main Theme: International Protection
Keywords: Gaza, West Bank, refugee status, subsidiary protection status
18 December 2023
Each year, International Migrants Day is observed on 18 December. Designated by the United Nations General Assembly on 4 December 2000, in response to increasing migration around the world, the day aims to draw attention to migrants' human rights and highlight their contribution to our societies.
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Main Theme: Migration
Keywords: international migrants day
14 December 2023
Today, the European Parliament adopted a resolution wrapping up the fact-finding investigation by the Working Group on Frontex Scrutiny with 366 votes in favour, 154 against, and 15 abstaining. The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) inter alia share concerns over the situation in Greece, Lithuania and Hungary.
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Main Theme: Borders & Visa
Keywords: Frontex, fundamental rights, EU border agency, search and rescue
14 December 2023
At the Global Refugee Forum this week in Geneva, EU Member States announced their collective pledge for 2024 - 2025: 61.000 new places combined for resettlement and humanitarian admission for people in need of international protection. Of these, 31.000 are for resettlement, to be implemented in close cooperation with UNHCR, and 30.000 are for humanitarian admission.
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Main Theme: International Protection
Keywords: resettlement, humanitarian admission
11 December 2023
According to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, 4.260 persons obtained Belgian nationality in September 2023. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in September are Morocco, Syria, Romania, Afghanistan and Italy.
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Main Theme: Citizenship & Nationality
Keywords: access to nationality, Belgian nationality
08 December 2023
This morning, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo officially presented the program and priorities of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union. From 1 January 2024, Belgium will be at the head of all meetings and negotiations within the Council of the European Union for six months.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: Belgian Presidency, Council of the European Union
06 December 2023
While a draft law introducing a new right of residence for stateless persons is currently being discussed in Parliament, ENS and Nansen underline that the project has a large number of formal and substantive conditions and reduced procedural guarantees. They conclude that it is not compatible with the obligation to have a fair, effective and accessible procedure for the access of stateless people to their rights.
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Main Theme: Statelessness
Keywords: stateless persons, right of residence
06 December 2023
The Return Expert Group (REG) within the EMN conducted a successful workshop dedicated to advancing multistakeholder governance towards case resolution of undocumented migrants. Facilitated by EMN Belgium and the Belgian Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil), this event focused on fostering connections between national authorities, local administrations and civil society organisations (CSOs).
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Main Theme: Return & Readmission
Keywords: undocumented migrants, case resolution, multistakeholder governance
04 December 2023
The first 15 asylum seekers have arrived today at the new Fedasil reception centre in Grimbergen. The new reception centre, which will accommodate up to 100 people, is specifically intended for people with medical problems, as well as their families.
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Main Theme: Reception
Keywords: reception centre, medical care
01 December 2023
On the proposal of the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor, the Council of Ministers agreed today on the extension of support measures for the reception and support of asylum seekers in the Brussels-Capital Region. A total of 2000 places are now available for asylum seekers who cannot immediately get a place in the Fedasil reception network.
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Main Theme: Reception
Keywords: homeless shelter, reception centre, reception crisis
29 November 2023
Myria has published the sixth thematic section of its 2023 annual report. This section entitled "International protection" reports that the refusal rate for asylum seekers from Afghanistan in 2022 is higher in Belgium (56%) than the average for EU countries (47%). In the event of return, some Afghan asylum seekers could risk degrading or even inhuman treatment (prohibited by Article 3 of the ECHR), given the current situation in Afghanistan.
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Main Theme: International Protection
Keywords: Afghanistan, refusal rate, inhuman or degrading treatment
28 November 2023
At a conference today, the European Commission proposed new legislation to prevent and fight migrant smuggling and also launched a call to action for a Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling.
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Main Theme: Smuggling & Trafficking
Keywords: migrant smuggling, criminal network, Europol
23 November 2023
The European Commission is presenting today a set of good practices to help Member States implement in the most effective way the actions to which they have committed under the Dublin Roadmap.
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Main Theme: International Protection
Keywords: Dublin Regulation, Dublin Roadmap, Dublin transfer
23 November 2023
The Court of Justice of the European Union has released two judgements today, respectively in Case C‑374/22 and in Case C‑614/22, where specific provisions of Directive 2011/95/EU must be interpreted as not requiring the Member States to grant the parent of a child who has refugee status in a Member State the right to international protection in that Member State.
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Main Theme: International Protection
Keywords: derived right to international protection, parent, family unity
20 November 2023
In a press release published today, Doctors of the World declared that it opposes a new article of the draft law presented by Nicole de Moor, providing for the possibility of carrying out medical examinations under constraint to facilitate the forced return of third-country nationals. Doctors of the World says this measure risks further complicating access to health care for these particularly vulnerable people.
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Main Theme: Return & Readmission
Keywords: proactive return policy, medical examination, constraint
17 November 2023
The European Migration Network (EMN) held a two-day conference titled ‘Shaping the future of EU legal migration: where are we and where do we want to go?’. The event was part of Spain’s current presidency of the Council of the EU, with a focus on legal migration strategies to attract the talent and skills needed from abroad.
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Main Theme: Economic migration
Keywords: talent partnership, talent mobility, skills recognition, EU Talent Pool, labour shortage
16 November 2023
In a press release published today, Myria says it receives many reports from people linked in one way or another to Belgium, who are stuck in extremely threatening circumstances in Gaza.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: Gaza, Palestinian, visa application, international protection
15 November 2023
Through its campaign “So what, we continue the exploitation?”, the CIRÉ underlines that undocumented workers who informally fill the labour needs, are at risk of being exploited. It pleads to give them access to legal work, particularly through the single permit procedure.