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Transitional Justice Snapshot 11
International Support for the Special Jurisdiction for Peace
The international community has been a fundamental support to the Peace Agreement with the FARC-EP. From the start of the negotiations, the accompanying guarantor countries —Cuba, Norway, Chile and Venezuela— were vital to building confidence between the parties and ensuring that dialogues continued in the most difficult moments. An additional impulse to discussions came from the concrete support provided by other actors that appointed special envoys to the peace process, such as Jean Arnault for the United Nations, Bernie Aronson for the United States, and Eamon Gilmore for the European Union.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has given its unanimous backing for the agreement and its implementation. The UNSC created a political mission to verify the bilateral ceasefire and handover of weapons to the UN under Resolution 2261 of 2016. It further renewed its mandate to create the Verification Mission for the reincorporation process and implementation of the peace agreement under Resolution 2366 of 2017. Furthermore, the resolutions and reports of the Security Council, as well as the reports of UN Secretary General António Guterres, have consistently backed the implementation of the peace agreement.
Political and financial support
Colombia is a signatory of the Statute of Rome, which means that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction over serious infractions of International Humanitarian Law that have not been investigated, ruled on and punished by national bodies. The ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, is closely monitoring the situation in Colombia, since the Court already has an open preliminary investigation in the country regarding ‘false positives’. In this context, she has shown her support for the transitional justice framework that was created by the Peace Agreement in 2016 —the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition. In particular, she has encouraged the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) to continue working to combat impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has expressed its support for the JEP, confirming that its operations are “key for the restorative model of transitional justice, indispensable for the advancing of the implementation of the Agreement, and for guaranteeing the rights of the victims.” The support of the ICC and the IACHR enhance the legitimacy of the JEP.
For the implementation stage of the Agreement, the political and financial support of the international community has also been fundamental. The UN, through the Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Sustaining Peace in Colombia, has invested around 150 million dollars since 2016. The investment of around 5 million dollars originating from the Multi-Partner Trust Fund in 2017, meant that the Executive Secretary of the JEP, and its chambers and divisions, could begin operations. The European Trust Fund for Colombia has invested more than 125 million euros since 2016 for the implementation of the peace agreement. In 2019, the contribution from this facility meant that the Integrated System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition could establish a more effective presence in the regions of the country, despite the national government reducing the budget for the corresponding institutions.
The international community played a key role when President Iván Duque presented objections to Statutory Law 1957 of 2019 that regulates the operations of the JEP. These objections were also supported by the US government. The UN Security Council, the different bodies of the United Nations in Colombia, the IACHR, the ICC, as well as the ambassadors of the European Union and several European countries, sent messages urging the Colombian government to sign Law 1957. The Constitutional Court finally ruled that the president should sign the law, but political pressure from the international community was essential to creating a favourable environment for the JEP.
*Image credits to BBC news
The international community and the legitimacy of the JEP
The support of the international community for the Comprehensive System will continue to be vital in the future. When the first rulings of the JEP are made, the potential sanctions may not be sufficient to fulfil the expectations of society and the victims.
The JEP is designed to offer a balance between restorative justice —centred on the reconstruction of social fabric, reconciliation, truth, reparation and the restitution of rights to the victims— and retributive justice —which traditionally is understood in terms of prison terms for perpetrators. The JEP privileges restorative justice, but it does not discount some forms of retributive justice. Perpetrators face several years with their freedom restricted, even in cases where their crimes do not fall under the auspices of the amnesty and they offer a full and truthful account of their actions. Furthermore, those who do not admit to their crimes and do not answer truthfully to the victims could receive sentences of up to twenty years in jail.
Confusion about the type of justice involved, together with political attacks, could weaken the JEP’s legitimacy. This is where the international community could play a fundamental role in supporting the JEP, by strengthening processes of pedagogy that will help people to understand the ethical dimension of the sentences and embed actions, both in daily life and the collective consciousness, that can rebuild social fabric and guarantee that violence will not recur.
Innovation pill
The 2016 Agreement charged the Kroc Institute of the University of Notre Dame with the technical monitoring of the implementation stage. The monitoring that the Kroc Institute does as an independent academic centre is a valuable tool for the government, the international community and Colombian society to take action regarding the progress and delays in the implementing of the agreement. In its latest report, although the Kroc Institute identifies important advances in the operations of the transitional justice institutions, there are also urgent warnings regarding the slow implementation of the agreement in its totality during the government of Iván Duque.
Embrace Dialogue recognises the role of the international community in the implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement. Its support for the JEP is important given the unfavourable political climate. We invite the international community to continue to support the JEP to overcome the impunity that prevails for crimes committed during the armed conflict.
