The issue of migrations raises serious questions and debates at both the political and civil society levels in Belgium. Since September 11th, those debates turned into more passionate ones (Abu Jahjah, the Islamic veil, foreigners' voting rights, the overuse of the migratory theme in political discourse sometimes bordering xenophobia, etc.).

The existing studies on the subject regularly suffer from a lack of media coverage and the scientific recommendations are not often translated into effective public policies, as shown by the debate of ethnic employment discrimination. In the multitude of studies and a sometime alarmist media coverage, the people cannot always realize the real successes that are in fact achieved through public measures or positive integration experiences.

This conference's objective is to show the current state of the immigration and integration problematic by presenting a qualitative assessment of the most recent research. Not wanting to fall in the trap of easy hostile discourses charged with stereotypes that consider the immigrants and their family threatening, this conference hopes to contribute in the acknowledgement of the positive influence of immigration in Belgium.