Urgenter dan Ooit: Creëer een Master in Critical Diaspora, Race and Liberation Studies
BIRMM POLICY BRIEF N° 03/2025
By Tundé Adefioye, Latifah Abdou, Iman Lechkar & Ilke Adam
Studentenprotesten aan Vlaamse universiteiten tegen de genocide in Gaza maken zichtbaar hoe sterk jongeren zich engageren rond racisme, kolonialisme, klimaat en sociale rechtvaardigheid. Zij dagen universiteiten uit om verantwoordelijkheid te nemen voor historische en actuele ongelijkheden en bouwen collectief aan alternatieve, inclusieve toekomsten. Binnen deze context klinkt de roep om structurele verandering in het hoger onderwijs luider dan ooit. Deze policy brief pleit daarom voor de oprichting van een Master in Critical Diaspora, Race and Liberation Studies als noodzakelijke stap richting een inclusiever, rechtvaardiger en pluralistischer Vlaams hoger onderwijs.
Kernpunten:
- De protesten aan de Vlaamse universiteiten die de genocide op Palestijnen in Gaza aanklagen, tonen aan dat studenten zich inzetten rond thema’s als racisme, kolonialisme, klimaat en sociale rechtvaardigheid.
- Binnen deze context klinkt de roep om structurele verandering in het hoger onderwijs luider dan ooit.
- Een Master in Critical Diaspora, Race and Liberation Studies is een noodzakelijke stap richting een inclusiever, rechtvaardiger en pluralistischer Vlaams hoger onderwijs.
Read the full policy brief (in Dutch) here
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.