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The Barcoding Facility for Organisms and Tissues of Policy Concern (BopCo) aims at developing an expertise forum to facilitate the identification of biological samples of policy concern in Belgium and Europe. The project represents part of the Belgian federal contribution to the European Research Infrastructure Consortium LifeWatch. Non-native species which are being introduced into Europe, whether by accident or deliberately, can be of policy concern since some of them can reproduce and disperse rapidly in a new territory, establish viable populations and even outcompete native species. As a consequence of their presence, natural and managed ecosystems can be disrupted, crops and livestock affected, and vector-borne diseases or parasites might be introduced, impacting human health and socio-economic activities. Non-native species causing such adverse effects are called Invasive Alien Species (IAS). In order to protect native biodiversity and ecosystems, and to mitigate the potential impact on human health and socio-economic activities, the issue of IAS is tackled in Europe by EU Regulation 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and Council. The IAS Regulation provides for a set of measures to be taken across all member states. The list of Invasive Alien Species of Union Concern is regularly updated. In order to implement the proposed actions, however, methods for accurate species identification are required when suspicious biological material is encountered. Because morphology-based species identifications are not always possible (e.g. cryptic species, trace material, early life-stages), the purpose of the present work is to investigate and evaluate the usefulness of DNA sequence data to identify each of the IAS included in the EU Regulation. The results are presented as factsheets (one per IAS) compiled using publicly available DNA sequence data and information aggregated from various sources. Each factsheet consists of two major parts; (i) a short introduction to the specific IAS compiling information on its ...

US policymakers and the country's media erupted in a frenzy this summer over the issue of unaccompanied minors: Tens of thousands of youth from Central America, headlines proclaimed, will try to enter the US in 2014 alone. But how to define these youth remains hotly contested. Similar debates are happening in plenty of other countries, from Italy to Kenya to Australia. Yet the roots of dispute run particularly deep in the US, which, due to centuries of economic success, has absorbed tens of millions of immigrants. Long before Latino children became an issue, US leaders debated what to do with Chinese laborers, Eastern European radicals, even Africa slaves. In the process, the country played a pivotal role in defining the now-controversial term 'illegal alien.'. Adapted from the source document.

This report provides a summary of the immigration policy on expedited removal of aliens.

Current emphasis on kinship as a basis for rationing non-refugee visas. Alternative rationing on the basis of labor market skills; a fee-based system.