Facts and Figures

IOM Member State Capital: Brussels Population (2011): 10.8 million Area: 30,528 sq km Major Languages: Dutch (local variant called Flemish), French, German Currency: Euro (EUR) GDP per Capita PPP (2010): USD 37,600 HDI Rank (2011): 18 of 187 Remittances (2011 estimate): USD 10,894 million Net Migration Rate (2010-2015): 1.9 migrants / 1,000 population Immigrants (2010): 9.1% Women as a Percentage of Immigrants (2010): 49.4% Population under 15 (2011): 16.9% Adult HIV Prevalence (2009): 0.2%
Sources and Definitions More Facts and Figures   Total Labour Force (2007): 4,766,300 Foreign-born Unemployment Rate (2007): 16.4% Voluntary Returns from Belgium, 2006: 2,811 Asylum Requests in Belgium, 2006: 11,587 Asylum Seekers in Belgian Reception Facilities, 2006: 12,816 1.9%

Latest News

• IOM and UNHCR Assist the Government of Belgium in Resettling African Refugees Fleeing Libya
• Final Conference of the Joint IOM, UNHCR and ICMC Project on Practical Cooperation in EU Resettlement, 6th and 7th of June 2011, Brussels
• Asian, EU Governments and Experts Meet to Debate Asian Labour Migration to Europe
• Migrants a Valuable Resource in Combating Rise in HIV/AIDS in Europe
• New Observatory on Migration in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Regions Launched in Brussels

In Belgium, the regulation of migration is divided amongst the Ministries of Interior, Social Integration, Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Labour. Since the 1999-2000 general amnesty for migrants residing in an irregular situation (where approximately 40,000 persons were regularized), the Government of Belgium has been giving increased priority to Assisted Voluntary Returns (AVR). As a tool for regulating migration, AVR offers a humanitarian and social alternative to forced return. Migration and Development has also been identified as a priority of the Government of Belgium and is being supported through an inter-ministerial approach aiming to enhance the positive impact of migration on development and vice-versa.

In recent years, migration has become an important policy priority in the European Union (EU), both at the level of individual Member States, and for the governing institutions of the EU (Council, Commission and Parliament). Through policy publications, operational initiatives and regional dialogues, the EU is addressing key areas of migration management including stemming the increasing irregular migration flows to the EU, facilitating regular migration and enhancing the linkages between migration and development. IOM Brussels, in addition to its liaison role with the Government of Belgium, also acts as IOM’s regional liaison and coordination office to the European Union.

In its capacity of Regional Liaison and Coordination Office to the EU, IOM Brussels is working closely with the EU in Movement, Emergency and Post-crisis Migration Management initiatives. In particular, the Brussels office is regularly contracted by the European Commission to act as Implementing Partner for European Union Election Observation Missions (EU EOM). IOM provides logistical and administrative support, facilitating the deployment of the missions. IOM believes that the promotion of fair elections can play an important role in stabilising countries and thereby enhancing migration management. The implementation of EU EOMs is managed from Brussels in coordination with IOM missions in the field. IOM developed a specific training for election experts, national authorities and IDPs. This module is to be included in the global training programme of the EC.

IOM has also established close institutional relations with the European Commission Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid, ECHO. Since signing a framework partnership agreement with ECHO in 1999, IOM has implemented over 95 ECHO-funded operations worldwide. The year 2005 and following have shown a special increase of IOM/ECHO cooperation, following the devastating tsunami in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, where IOM has been one of ECHO’s main partners in the region. Equally, IOM is implementing ECHO-funded operations in Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and Latin America. As liaison office to the EU, IOM Brussels monitors and supports projects, which are managed by IOM field missions on-site.

Main Projects

• EU Electoral Observation Mission to Timor Leste, April 2007 and June 2007
• EU Electoral Observation Mission to Aceh, December 2006 and March 2007
• EU Electoral Observation Mission to Mauritania, November 2006 and March 2007

The link between Migration and Health has been receiving increased attention in the European Union, with major events timed for the Portuguese EU Presidency in 2007. IOM Brussels liaises with the European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) and is contributing to the regular meetings of the EU’s HIV/AIDS Think Tank.

IOM’s objective is to increase cooperation with the European Commission’s DG SANCO, DG Research, and DG Employment and Social Affairs and launch joint projects for research and capacity-building in migration health issues.

Since 2005, IOM Brussels has also received funding from the Belgian government for a capacity-building project targeting marginalised Roma communities in Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, the circulation of health professionals and strengthening of the health sector in countries of origin are additional Belgian priorities, which are currently being addressed by Migration and Development initiatives.

Main Projects

• Transnational Measures for Ensuring Inclusion and Equal Rights for Minority European Union Citizens to Social and Health Care Benefits in their Home Countries (Phase II)
• Increasing Public Health Safety Alongside the New Eastern European Border Line

Migration and development constitutes one of the main project activities of IOM Brussels. Building on the MIDA Great Lakes project that started in 2001, IOM Brussels is working closely with diaspora organizations, government counterparts and relevant interlocutors to develop new practical initiatives that enhance the positive impact of migration on development. Through research, meetings and conferences, IOM and its partners seek to create a better understanding of the linkages between migration and development. Following a major international conference on migration and development organized by IOM Brussels and the Government of Belgium, with support from the European Commission and the World Bank, in March 2006 in Brussels, IOM Brussels is managing an independent, interagency website on the same topic. IOM Brussels also regularly advises the Government of Belgium and the European Commission on migration and development issues and is making its expertise available to a range of different stakeholders. Furthermore, IOM Brussels actively facilitates the contact of diaspora members and organizations residing in Europe with their home countries and is encouraging diaspora involvement for the development of countries of origin.

Main Projects

• MIDA Great Lakes Project: Mobilisation of Human and Other Resources from the African Great Lakes Diaspora for the Development of the Country of Origin
• Pilot Project - Reinforcing the Health Sector in the DRC by Establishing a Partnership between Hospitals in Belgium and in the DRC and training of Congolese staff in the health sector
• MIDA North Rhine Westphalia (Germany) - Preparatory Phase: Mobilising the capacities and competences of members of the Congolese, Burundian, and Rwandan diaspora for the development of the region of the Great Lakes
• Placement of Afghan Expatriate Professionals from EU Countries (PAEP-EU)

Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR). Assisted Voluntary Return is a key tool in regulating migration and has long been an area of cooperation between IOM and the Belgian government. Based on an agreement with the Federal Public Service for Social Integration, IOM has been implementing the Return and Emigration of Asylum Seekers ex Belgium (REAB) programme for AVR since 1984. In 2006, upon agreement with the Ministry for Social Integration, IOM established a new Reintegration Fund in cooperation with the Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers, Fedasil. In July 2006, Fedasil created a Return Cell (co-funded by the European Refugee Fund) whose aim is to reinforce the assistance and reintegration counseling provided to migrants wishing to return voluntarily to their home country.

At EU level, IOM Brussels has been actively involved in coordinating the EC-funded Return, Reception and Reintegration of Afghan Nationals to Afghanistan (RANA) progamme, which came to an end on 30 March 2007. By integrating a cohesive reception and reintegration approach into EU Member States national return measures and facilitating exchange among participating EU Member States on return and reintegration issues pertaining to Afghanistan, this programme represented a first pilot attempt to concretise the strategy drawn by the EC under its 2002 EU Return Programme which sought to reinforce cooperation among EU Member States in the view of harmonising EU approach in the entire area of return.

In 2007 IOM Brussels launched a programme, funded by the EU, aimed to improve the overall efficiency of national agencies and service providers responsible for reception, protection and treatment of unaccompanied minors in carrying out their tasks in full compliance with Community rules and standards by way of promoting exchange of visits, information and best practice to share know-how, management tools, observe methodology and characteristics of the unaccompanied alien children, compare management and availability of financial means. Attention will be given to two different categories with special needs: child victims of trafficking (the action foreseen under the present project will be limited to identification and treatment); and juvenile criminal offenders.

Capacity-Building in Migration Management (CBMM). Furthermore, IOM Brussels is supporting the European Commission and EU Member States in their cooperation with third countries by implementing and monitoring projects to provide technical assistance and capacity-building in the field of migration management. IOM Brussels is actively engaged in the EC’s AENEAS programme as a means to promote and strengthen transnational networks for exchange of best practices between Europe and China (aiming particularly at stemming irregular migration). Since 2004, IOM Brussels has also received funding under the AGIS programme for its counter-trafficking activities, which contribute to preventing and combating trafficking within the European Union as well as in accession and neighbouring countries.

Main Projects

• Return and Emigration of Asylum Seekers ex Belgium
• Operational Networking, Co-operation and Joint Multidisciplinary Training Process for Judicial, Law Enforcement, NGO and International Organisation Specialists in Fighting Trafficking in Human Beings (AGIS)
• Capacity Building for Migration Management in China (AENEAS)
• Return, Reception and Reintegration of Afghan Nationals to Afghanistan (RANA)
• Exchange of information and best practices on first reception, protection and treatment of unaccompanied minors
• EC/ERA/IOM Training Action on Asylum and International Protection for Civil Servants in the Western Balkans (AENEAS 2005)

Labour Migration. Of the estimated 191 million migrants worldwide, more than 86 million are thought to be labour migrants. Labour migration, or the movement of people across borders for employment, has moved to the top of the policy agendas in many countries of origin, transit and destination, including Belgium and all EU Member States. Therefore the management of migration flows is crucial, given this magnitude and the likelihood that international labour migration will increase in the future. The development of effective, fair and durable labour migration policies and practices requires cooperation among all states involved in the process (i.e., countries of origin, transit and destination) at all levels of government, together with other key stakeholders, namely social partners (employers and trade unions), international organizations and civil society organizations.

In this context IOM Brussels is fully involved in the EU debate on labour migration (e.g., high-skilled migrants, circular migration, mobility partnerships., etc.) as the development of a coherent EU policy on legal migration that can benefit all stakeholders, i.e., countries of origin, destination and the migrants themselves, would be in accordance with IOM’s comprehensive approach to migration management and to promote humane and orderly migration.

On the operational level IOM Brussels in partnership with ILO is running a project “Capacity Building for Migration Management in China” funded under the EC AENEAS 2005 programme, which includes a component on facilitating legal migration from China towards EU.

Main Projects

• Capacity Building for Migration Management in China

Research and policy development on migration issues and communications are important responsibilities of IOM Brussels in the context of its relations with the EU and the Belgian government. Combining operational expertise with academic research data on migration trends, IOM Brussels regularly produces position papers on issues regarding migration in the EU and compiles information on the operational activities of its over 200 existing field offices. IOM Brussels works in close cooperation with Belgian universities and partner organizations to carry out research studies on issues related to migration, in particular concerning the development impact of migration, general migration trends, and evolving legislation on migration management in the EU. In addition, IOM operational projects are carried out in cooperation with subject matter experts from academia and other international organizations working in similar fields.

Main Projects

• Remittances Study for the Maghreb and the Great Lakes Region: How to Enhance the Development Impact of Remittances from Belgium to Migrant Countries of Origin – Case Study, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Preparatory study to the project "Marocains Résidents l’Etranger pour le développement du Maroc"
• Exchange of information and best practices on irregular migration and smuggling of migrants linked to cross-border organised crime

Last updated:
Main text: July 2007
Facts and figures: April 2012