The International Criminal Court (ICC) will not try war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the actors of the Colombian armed conflict. Considering that the Colombian justice is doing its job, it decided to end the preliminary investigation opened seventeen years earlier, as announced, Thursday, October 28, in Bogota, the prosecutor general of the ICC, the Briton. Karim Khan. The jurist underlined and celebrated the role that the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) now plays as part of the agreement signed five years ago with the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Colombian President Ivan Duque, who was present alongside the prosecutor, welcomed a decision “Historical” from The Hague. For the Head of State, by closing his preliminary investigation, the international court “Recognizes the strength of Colombian institutions”. The reaction of the opposition and human rights organizations is more mixed.
Supporters of the peace agreement and other human rights defenders point out that the ICC has achieved the unthinkable: to get President Duque, from the hard-right, to recognize the legitimacy and effectiveness of the JEP. “What is historic, considers the sociologist and opponent Sara Tufano, it is because the government of Ivan Duque is obliged to recognize the peace agreement, after having tried by all means to destroy it. “
“Atrocious crimes”
But they are concerned about the impact of the withdrawal from the ICC, as human rights violations continue in the country. For Afro-Colombian environmental defender Francia Marquez, presidential pre-candidate, “International justice was the only hope for some victims of seeing those guilty of atrocious crimes convicted”. The director for the Americas of the organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), José Miguel Vivanco, for his part, qualifies the decision of the ICC of “Premature and erroneous” given the context and the fragility of the country’s institutions.
After a meeting with President Duque, Mr. Khan said that “Colombia is living up to its international obligations”, meaning that Colombian justice is acting and that the ICC no longer has to monitor it. “I am happy to say that I can withdraw from the preliminary investigation”, he added. In office since June, the Attorney General says he noted, during his visit to Colombia, that “Real efforts have been made to close the breach of impunity”.
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