In 2025, NANSEN published two Notes examining access to international protection and effective legal remedies for migrants held in administrative detention.
The first Note, Procédure de protection internationale et détention à la frontière, takes a comprehensive look at how people who present themselves at the border and are held in administrative detention experience the procedure for obtaining international protection. Drawing on structured legal analysis and field observations, the Note tracks the journey from refusal of entry to detention, legal recourse, and eventual access to territory. It also situates the current Belgian framework alongside upcoming changes under the EU Pact on Asylum and Migration.
The second Note, Effectivité des recours contre une décision de refoulement, focuses on the effectiveness of legal remedies available under Belgian law against refusal of entry decisions. It explores multiple procedural, contextual and substantive obstacles that hinder meaningful access to remedies, including aspects of detention, procedural limitations, and uncertainty over removal destinations.
Taken together, these Notes offer rich legal and procedural insight into how Belgium’s systems for international protection at the border and in administrative detention operate.
An English summary of these two Notes, presenting our key findings, is available here.