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Abstract: The article starts by shortly presenting the evolution of the European asylum and refugee law, moving afterwards to the Romanian law concerning migration policy and refugee protection in general and the national security as a ground to refuse asylum and refugee protection, in particular. After presenting theoretical aspects, the paper moves to practice, presenting the Romanian jurisprudence based on national security as a ground to refuse protection. The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights involving Romanian decisions based on national security is also taken into account. The article ends with comments, proposals and conclusions.
Keywords: asylum; refugee protection; national security; Romania.
Framing subdomain: Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
I.Introduction. The European asylum and refugee law
Back in the 90's, the abolition of the internal borders between the Member States had lead to a process of harmonisation of national rules on asylum and return procedures that continues in the present days. The first two treaties were the Schengen Implementing Convention [1] and the Dublin Convention [2]. Then, more documents were created and so the first Treaty on the European Union, the Maastricht Treaty was born [3] The Treaty was criticised because it referred to asylum purely as a matter of common interest within the Third Pillar, so later on, in 1997, the Amsterdam Treaty moved asylum from the third pillar, a non-governmental one, to the first pillar, that of the European Community [4]. The establishment of a common European asylum system (CEAS) was mentioned by the Tampere Conclusions (1999) of the European Council [5], introducing for the first time this notion [6].
Under CEAS, more directives and regulations were born in a short period of time: Temporary Protection Directive [7], Reception Conditions Directive [8], Qualification Directive [9], Asylum Procedure Directive [10], 2003 Dublin Regulation [11], EURODAC Regulation [12].
In 2004 the Hague Programme on Strengthening Freedom, Security and Justice in the European Union was set, according to which the aim of CEAS was the establishment of a common asylum procedure and a uniform status for those who are granted asylum or subsidiary protection. The foreseen procedure was to be based on the full and inclusive application of the Geneva Convention on Refugees [13] and other relevant Treaties [14] Three years later, the...