AUWCL Professors Participate in Release of a Report Evaluating the Work of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace in Colombia
July 15, 2019
The oldest international human rights organization, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), recently published its evaluation of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP, by its initials in Spanish), the transitional justice court created by the Peace Agreement between the National Government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC-EP). The 104-page report (available only in Spanish) is an analysis of the JEP’s work over a 1.5-year period, and was signed by AUWCL’s very own Professor Robert K. Goldman, ICJ president, Professor Carlos Ayala Corao, adjunct faculty member with the Academy on Human Rights and ICJ Vice President, Philippe Texier, previously a professor with the Academy on Human Rights, former judge of the Court of Cassation of France, and ICJ Commissioner, and Wilder Tayler, ICJ Commissioner. An interview with the analysts can be found here (Spanish). The report was presented to the president of Colombia, Iván Duque, and the president of the JEP, Patricia Linares.
The aim of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace is to investigate and punish serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed during the Colombian conflict with the goal of fostering peace in the nation.
According to Professor Goldman, the ICJ recognized the progress made by the JEP to guarantee the rights of victims and combat impunity for serious human rights violations. Although the report lists a number of challenges that the JEP currently faces, including the need to expand victim participation, the report concludes that the JEP is a fundamental institution for the consolidation of peace in Colombia.