L'esclusione dallo status di rifugiato per atti di terrorismo. Prospettive comparate.

The research examines the interplay between refugee law refugees and the protection of national security from terrorists. The thesis focuses on exclusion from refugee status in reason of terrorism and uses the comparison of prototypical cases as research methodology. At the outset article 1 (F) of the 1951 Geneva Convention is analysed, while then the interconnection between terrorism and asylum law is explored. EU and US legislation and practices are used to compare two different prototypical approaches. Converging trends in the interpretation of the exclusion clauses are noticed and duly underlined. The research suggests that to protect national security from any terrorist risk, with due regard to contemporary terrorism, exclusion from refugee status is wrongly used, as article 1 (F) of the Geneva Convention serves the different purpose of distinguishing between victims and persecutors and granting protection only to those in need.