On the 25 and 26 September 2018, the Regional Roundtable “Addressing National Security Concerns Without Undermining Refugee Protection” organised by UNHCR and the Council of Europe, took place in Tbilisi, Georgia. The event brought together fifty judges (Supreme Court, Higher Administrative Court, Appeal Court judges ) senior representatives of the migration and asylum departments, senior representatives of the national security services from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Germany, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, as well as representatives from the Council of Europe and the UNHCR. The speakers outlined the legal framework, notably the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and relevant UNHCR guidance, as well as Council of Europe instruments. In asylum and expulsion/extradition procedures – the emphasis was placed on key principles emanating from the European Convention on Human Rights pertaining to safeguards and the quality of the review by domestic appeal courts in order to satisfy the requirements of the right to an effective remedy under Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The discussions focused on current state practice, ways to comply with international refugee law and the ECHR, as well as on state measures taken within the framework of the supervision of the execution of European Court of Human Rights’ judgments by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers. Key recommendations from the discussions included that the asylum procedures are organized to ensure full examination of the asylum claims in a fair and efficient way with full consideration of the merits of the asylum claim and exclusion grounds within the asylum procedure itself. Importantly, in expulsion and extradition procedures, full consideration to human rights bars to an intended expulsion/extradition has to be given. On 26 September 2018, UNHCR’s Regional Representative for South Caucasus, Mr. Johannes van der Klaauw, and the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, Mr. Cristian Urse, concluded the event. Mr. van der Klaauw recalled that ensuring security and protecting refugees need to be understood as complementary and not adversary goals, and how international refugee law provides a solid legal framework that addresses both security and protection concerns. Recalling the absolute nature of Article 3 of the ECHR, which prohibits the extradition/expulsion of person to a country where he/she runs a real risk of being subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Mr Urse reaffirmed that in the long term national security can only be upheld by effectively implementing human rights and Council of Europe standards.