Annual Report on Migration

The report gives an overview of the most recent data on migration and asylum, of recent developments in the area and lists a series of recommandations.

The annual report Migration 2013 includes chapters on:

• Migration in Belgium: numbers and movements;
• Admission to the territory;
• Legal stay, including international protection and statelessness, right to family life, economic migration and free movement, study-related migration and regularization;
• Return, detention and removal;
• Differences in treatment based on residence status;
• Nationality.

Decreasing immigration, decrease in rights

After approximately 30 years of increasing immigration of foreigners to Belgium, a decrease of 10 percent was observed in 2012: 124.717 foreigners immigrated towards Belgium compared to 138.071 in 2011.

According to the Federal Migration Centre, this tendency of decreasing immigration went hand in hand with decreasing rights for foreigners, which was a consequence of a number of reforms and measures taken. Many of this policy measures were taken in a context of economic crisis. “This, however, does not release the government from its (international) obligation to respect the fundamental rights of foreigners” argues the Federal Migration Centre.

One of the recommendations in the annual report 2013 is to systematically measure the impact of migration policy reforms on the fundamental rights of foreigners. The Federal Migration Centre states that the different national human rights actors have the needed expertise to add to such an impact-analysis and offers the future federal government to assist them on the topic.

The report is available in Dutch and French.

More information on the website of the Federal Migration Centre.