Linking Counter Terrorism and Refugee Law: Unravelling the (Undue) Nexus with International Law

Abstract

The link between the arrivals of refugees seeking international protection and an increase in the risk of terrorism seems to have been already established in public opinion and it has been a basis for the recent adoption of controversial measures, including the suspension of the Schengen Agreement in Europe or the so-called Muslim Ban in the United States. Against the backdrop of an alleged refugees-terrorism nexus, the purpose of this paper is to understand whether there is any degree of convergence or, conversely, divergence, between the crimes included within the “exclusion clause” under International Refugee Law (IRL) and the acts classified as “terrorist acts” under Counter-Terrorism Law (CTL), with particular reference to the European context. After some introductory remarks, the paper discusses the grounds for exclusions under IRL and European Law in section 2, while in section 3 the multiple definitions of terrorist offences under CTL are presented. Section 4 aims at discussing specific circumstances leading to the exclusion of an individual from refugee status on the basis of terrorism. Some conclusive remarks are finally proposed.