When Migrant Autonomy is Mistaken for Exclusion
BIRMM OP-ED N° 07/2025
By Duha Ceylan
Duha Ceylan wrote a text that challenges us to rethink what inclusion really means and to recognize the importance of spaces where migrants can gather autonomously, share knowledge, and imagine collectively, without having to justify their existence. This op-ed examines how migrant-led initiatives in academia—and beyond—are scrutinized in ways that maintain institutional comfort for those already in power. A must-read for anyone interested in migration, higher education, diversity, and the politics of inclusion.
Read the full op-ed here
The EU's new asylum 'safe countries' list is a fantasy wonderland
BIRMM OP-ED N° 06/2025
By Gaia Romeo and Frowin Rausis
Gaia Romeo and Frowin Rausis unpack how the EU’s new asylum legislation turns “safe countries” into a political fiction, at the expense of human rights, solidarity, and the EU’s own values. EU member states have recently agreed on new asylum legislation centred on the notion of “safe countries”. While presented as a milestone for EU asylum policy, these measures introduce an EU-wide list of “safe countries of origin” and significantly expand the use of third-country responsibility for asylum processing. BIRMM researcher Gaia Romeo, together with Frowin Rausis, critically examine the assumptions underpinning these policies and situate them within longer-standing attempts to externalise asylum. Their piece argues that “safe country” frameworks are weakly grounded in empirical realities, risk human rights violations, and are unlikely to achieve their stated policy objectives — while further eroding access to international protection.
Read the full op-ed here
Narratives of Mobility and Care: Women of 'Windrush' and Migratory Ambivalence
BIRMM OP-ED N° 05/2025
By Tola Ositelu
Tola Ositelu wrote an eye-opening piece on why the overlooked stories of Windrush women healthcare workers matter in today’s hostile migration climate. Britain’s NHS is often celebrated as a cornerstone of the British welfare state. Yet far less attention has been paid to the women of the Windrush generation whose labour sustained it, and whose stories remain fragmented, marginalised, or erased. In her op-ed, PhD researcher Tola Ositelu explores how care, migration and colonial legacies intersect, and why centring the experiences of Windrush women healthcare workers matters, particularly in today’s hostile migration climate. This op-ed connects care work, migration, and colonial histories to contemporary hostile migration policies.
Read the full op-ed here
More Than Work and Housing: Why Public Spaces are Crucial for Integration
BIRMM OP-ED N° 04/2025
By Tulya Su Güven
In this op-ed, Tulya Su Güven explains why everyday public spaces like parks, cafés, community centres are so crucial for the social ties of newcomers and why we should protect them. Integration debates often focus on work, housing, and language acquisition. But what happens after work, outside the classroom, and beyond formal policy frameworks? Tulya argues that belonging is deeply shaped by everyday public spaces - places of informal encounter where social ties quietly take root. Drawing on research with newcomers in Belgium, the piece highlights why these “ordinary” places are anything but marginal, and why policymakers should recognise them as core pillars of integration. If we want people to feel at home, we also need to make room for encounter. This op-ed was originally posted on Knack in Dutch.
Read the full op-ed here or in Dutch on Knack
An Open Letter to Minister Beenders: Fight for Your Mandate
BIRMM OP-ED N° 03/2025
By Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe
In this op-ed, sociologist Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe addresses Minister of Equal Opportunities Rob Beenders with a sharp and personal appeal. He criticises the planned 25% budget cut to Unia, Belgium’s equality body, arguing that it is not a neutral austerity measure but an ideological choice that disproportionately harms those facing discrimination. Situating the cuts within a broader rightward shift in policy and discourse, Verhaeghe calls on the minister to resist, reinterpret and politically challenge decisions that weaken human rights protections. Blending structural analysis with personal reflection, the piece urges Beenders to use both his mandate and lived experience to defend equal opportunities as a collective and indivisible struggle. This op-ed was originally posted on Sampol in Dutch.
Read the full op-ed in Dutch on Sampol
Where Is the Anti-Racism Policy in Elder Care?
BIRMM OP-ED N° 02/2025
By Saloua Berdai
In this op-ed, Saloua Berdai Chaouni exposes how racism remains a largely overlooked reality in elder care, affecting both care workers and care users with a migration background. As Belgium’s population ages and becomes more diverse, the care sector increasingly relies on racialised workers while failing to adequately protect them—or elderly residents—from discrimination. Drawing on empirical research in Belgian residential and dementia care, the piece shows how racism manifests in everyday interactions, undermines wellbeing, and reduces the quality and accessibility of care. Berdai Chaouni argues that good intentions and diversity rhetoric are not enough: without a structural and explicit anti-racism policy, elder care risks reproducing deep social inequalities. This op-ed was originally posted on Sampol in Dutch.
Read the full op-ed in Dutch on Sampol
Language Education Is Not Merely a Hobby
BIRMM OP-ED N° 01/2025
By Rik Vosters
In this op-ed, Rik Vosters argues that framing language courses in adult education as mere “hobby classes” is both misleading and harmful. The recent decision by the Flemish government to sharply increase enrolment fees for these courses risks undermining a long-standing strength of Flemish society: multilingualism. While policy debates often prioritise Dutch proficiency and narrowly defined labour-market skills, Vosters shows that knowledge of foreign languages is essential economic, social and cultural capital. Drawing on employer organisations, academic research and international comparisons, the piece highlights how multilingual competence boosts employability, competitiveness and lifelong learning. Reducing access to language education, he warns, not only weakens individual opportunities but also carries significant macroeconomic costs, as illustrated by the United Kingdom’s experience. The op-ed ultimately calls for a broader vision of education policy, one that recognises foreign language learning not as hobbyism, but as a necessary investment in a resilient, outward-looking society. This op-ed was originally posted on De Tijd in Dutch.