In this report, the Commission is reporting on progress made under the European Agenda on Migration and the Commission's roadmap from December 2017, and is setting out further key actions to be taken.

Eurostat published a statistical analysis on the number of unaccompanied minors who applied for international protection in 2017. the 31,400 applications represent an important decrease compared to previous years. 

The panel discussion will present the findings of the recently completed research project of the European Foundation for Democracy which examined how different European countries with high numbers of refugees and/or experience of integrating high numbers of refugees are managing the integration process and identifies good practices for integrating refugees. The research looked in particular at the situation of Syrian refugees in Europe, though not exclusively.

48 winning journalists will receive EU-funded contracts to produce a story focused on diaspora, labour migration, vulnerable groups or legal and irregular migration to counterbalance the narrative on migration.

This conference aims to provide legal practitioners with an update on recent developments in the EU legal migration system and the mechanisms put in place to tackle labour and skills shortages and to reinforce the attractiveness of the EU for key workers

In 2018 viert het Europees Migratienetwerk (EMN) zijn tiende verjaardag. Ter gelegenheid hiervan houdt EMN op 15 mei een conferentie in Brussel. 

Commissioner Avramopoulos has congratulated the EMN on it's approaching 10th anniversary in a speech. 

In a judgment handed down today, the EU Court of Justice responded to a Dutch prejudicial question on family reunification of (unaccompanied minor) refugees. Following the reasoning of the Court, an unaccompanied minor who attains the age of majority during the asylum procedure retains its right to family reunification.

Following the release of its EASO Guidance on reception conditions: operational standards and indicators in December 2016, EASO has just issued the EASO guidance on contingency planning in the context of reception.

Two United Nations agencies are joining forces to combat migrant smuggling. They organized an event centering on a Joint Platform on Countering Migrant Smuggling.

Om meer aandacht te krijgen voor illegale tewerkstelling van derdelanders in België en de EU en voor de EMN studies hierover, maakte het Belgisch Contactpunt van het EMN een korte video.

Following the adoption of the Cooperation Agreement on the Single Permit Procedure on 2 February 2018, different legislative texts have been adopted at the federal and regional levels in March 2018 to approve this Cooperation Agreement.

De regering keurde op 24 maart 2018 een nieuw afbouwplan van opvangplaatsen voor verzoekers om internationale bescherming goed. Vandaag bestaat het opvangnetwerk uit 23.815 opvangplaatsen. Dat moet in 2019 terug gebracht zijn tot 16.629 opvangplaatsen, waarvan 10.044 collectieve plaatsen en 6.585 individuele opvangplaatsen. Met dit plan keert het netwerk terug naar het normale niveau van vóór de opvangcrisis.  

In Februari, Fedasil, het federaal agentschap voor de opvang van asielzoekers heeft een samenwerkingsakkord met Enabel (www.enabel.be), het Belgisch ontwikkelingsagentschap (voorheen de Belgische technische Coöperatie) getekend.

Today Eurostat published the 2017 statistics on 'Asylum in the EU' on its website. It covers main trends and characteristics of first time applicants and first instance decisions on asylum applications for 2017 in the EU.

At the height of the refugee “crisis” in October 2015, over 7,000 asylum seekers crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece per day. This created problematic conditions for refugees in reception centers and overwhelmed Greece as a first country of entry to the EU. In this setting, the EU-Turkey Statement was concluded with the aim of managing migration across the Aegean Sea and curbing arrivals to the EU. Whilst the Statement was effective in reducing the number of arrivals, it has been met with a series of human rights concerns.

This training session (in Dutch) provided by the Flemish Agency for Integration and Civic Integration aims at providing participants with a basic understanding of international family law.

The European Commission proposes to reform the EU's common visa policy. It also reports on - and calls for - further progress under the European Agenda on Migration. Finally it mobilises additional funding for Syrian refugees in Turkey.

These 2 training sessions (in Dutch) provided by the Flemish Agency for Integration and Civic Integration aim at providing participants with a basic understanding of the different residence statuses in Belgium, the different residence documents, and - to some extent - the associated rights.