Beleid met Effect: Vier Pijlers voor een Krachtig Antidiscriminatiebeleid
BIRMM POLICY BRIEF N° 04/2025
By Billie Martiniello
Discriminatie, en huurdiscriminatie in het bijzonder, schendt twee fundamentele mensenrechten: het recht op gelijke behandeling en het recht op degelijke huisvesting. Ondanks de grondwettelijke garanties blijft discriminatie een hardnekkig maatschappelijk probleem. Hoewel regionale en lokale overheden beleidsinspanningen leveren om discriminatie aan te pakken, blijkt uit onderzoek dat deze inspanningen vaak onvoldoende effect hebben. Ze zijn onvoldoende afgestemd op de werkelijke omvang van het probleem. Daarom pleit deze policy brief voor een daadkrachtige beleidsaanpak die discriminatie doeltreffend tegengaat via een totaalpakket gebaseerd op vier pijlers.
Kernpunten:
- In België wordt gemiddeld één op de vijf kandidaat-huurders van niet-Belgisch origine niet uitgenodigd voor een bezichtiging.
- Het huidige antidiscriminatiebeleid is niet op maat van de problematiek.
- Huidig antidiscriminatiebeleid bevindt zich in een vicieuze cirkel die inefficiënt beleid legitimeert door een mismatch tussen de lage meldingsbereidheid enerzijds en de steun op het aantal meldingen als indicatie voor de ernst van de problematiek anderzijds.
- Discriminatie tegengaan vergt een hands-on aanpak met concrete en gerichte acties.
- Een krachtig en doeltreffend antidiscriminatiebeleid vereist een totaalpakket bestaande uit vier pijlers: (1) Actieve monitoring via correspondentietesten; (2) Gerichte sensibiliseringsacties op maat; (3) Een gereguleerde markt die meer doet dan sensibiliseren; (4) Beleid dat verder reikt dan louter antidiscriminatiebeleid.
Read the full policy brief here (in Dutch) or here (in French)
Now More Urgent than Ever: Create A Master's in Critical Diaspora, Race and Liberation Studies
BIRMM POLICY BRIEF N° 03/2025
By Tundé Adefioye, Latifah Abdou, Iman Lechkar & Ilke Adam
Student protests at Flemish universities against the genocide in Gaza highlight how strongly young people are committed to fighting racism, colonialism, climate change, and social injustices. They challenge universities to take responsibility for historical and current inequalities and are collectively building alternative, inclusive futures. Within this context, the call for structural change in higher education is louder than ever. This policy brief therefore advocates for the establishment of a Master's programme in Critical Diaspora, Race, and Liberation Studies as a necessary step toward a more inclusive, just, and pluralistic Flemish higher education system.
Key Issues:
- At the start of the academic year, students continue to mobilize for structural change in Flemish higher education.
- Current curricula neglect colonial histories, diaspora experiences, and contributions of marginalized communities.
- Black Studies initiatives abroad show how alternative knowledge production can reshape universities.
- A Master's in Critical Diaspora, Race and Liberation Studies would help build a more inclusive, just, and pluriversal higher education system in Flanders.
Read the full policy brief here (in Dutch) or here (in English)
The EU's Return Regulation: Negotiating on the Basis of Evidence, not Narratives
BIRMM POLICY BRIEF N° 02/2025
By Lina Vosyliūtė & Florian Trauner
In March 2025, the European Commission proposed a new Return Regulation to establish a common EU system for returning irregular migrants. The proposal was presented without an impact assessment, despite introducing controversial measures such as return hubs in third countries, the detention of children, and “blank” European return orders. This policy brief highlights how EU institutions are now negotiating the proposal on the basis of political urgency and simplistic narratives, rather than robust evidence. The brief calls for impact assessments and academic research to inform these negotiations—ensuring quality legislation and preventing unintended consequences such as falling return rates or legitimizing far-right demands.
Key Issues:
- In 2025, the European Commission proposed a return regulation including controversial measures that risk violating migrants’ rights.
- The proposal was done without an impact assessment, with the last comprehensive assessment of EU return policy dating back to 2014.
- The European Parliament should insist on evidence-based policymaking during the negotiations, and re-balance inter-institutional responsibilities regarding impact assessments.
- EU return policies based on simplistic and unchecked narratives are likely to lower return rates and to legitimize demands of far-right parties.
Read the full policy brief here
World Refugee Day 2025: don't let national emergency measures become the new standard of EU asylum policy
BIRMM POLICY BRIEF N° 01/2025
By Florian Trauner
World Refugee Day is observed every year on June 20th. Led by the United Nations, its purpose is to raise awareness of the plight of refugees and internally displaced persons who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict, or individual persecution. The day also underscores the importance of the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights—both of which affirm the right to seek protection from persecution in another country. Yet, this very right is increasingly being undermined in Europe. Several EU member states have begun addressing asylum-related challenges through emergency measures. This trend has accelerated since the so-called ‘migration crisis’, which began in the summer of 2015. This Policy Brief tracks this development and recommends against normalizing emergency regimes in terms of dealing with refugees and asylum seekers in Europe.
Key Issues:
- In Europe, the situation of people in need of protection is getting more precarious - fundamental rights risk being eroded by emergency asylum policies of EU member states.
- A series of crises and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have led to security considerations dominating asylum policy.
- The revised EU asylum laws give this type of measures greater significance, potentially facilitating rather than reversing this development.
- This Policy Brief recommends that national emergency measures should be applied with utmost care – and not to become a new standard in terms of how to deal with asylum-related challenges in the EU.