The City of Mechelen and the Government of Flanders organized an expert meeting on 21 November 2022 in Mechelen, with support from the European Commission and the Migration Policy Institute Europe.

The objectives of this interactive exchange were:

• To generate knowledge on the challenges and opportunities for the social inclusion of LGBTQI+ migrant and refugee communities in an urban context, and on including migrant LGBTQI+ communities in decision-making process

• To present and share specific practices and policies;

• To identify the challenges encountered to design and implement appropriate policies;

• To create a network of experts on the topic 

This event was part of the action “Inclusion of LGBTQI+ migrants”. This action aimed to gain more insight into the obstacles migrants with LGBTQI+ gender identity/sexual orientation encounter in Europe, as well as into how cities, national governments and the EU level deal with these obstacles and contribute to their inclusion in society. Furthermore, the action seeks to formulate recommendations and best practices, as well as to facilitate networking, information exchange and cooperation among relevant actors and other existing networks.