Many peace negotiations worldwide have been framed within the apparent tension between the efforts to achieve peace and those to reestablish the rule of law through justice in conflict or post-conflict situations. While this debate continues in different arenas, the focus of this discussion is no longer on whether peace should prevail over justice (or vice versa) but has broadened to include other questions. One of the critical questions that arise in contemporary peace negotiations and processes is: How to design agreements that include a justice system that allows for an end to the conflict (negative peace) and, at the same time, adequately responds to grave crimes and serious human rights violations and addresses the causes that originated the conflict, in such a way that a lasting peace (positive peace) can be achieved?
In the Colombian context, significant developments have included and strengthened justice and peace provisions in line with the outlined above. The 2016 Final Peace Agreement is an example of this; the innovative Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) is one of the transitional justice mechanisms provided in the agreement. However, since its creation, the JEP has been at the center of public debate. In the last year, it has also entered into discussions about the current government's 'Total Peace' policy. Commentators, including experts and actors specialized in transitional justice issues, have begun to focus on the central question of the JEP's contribution to peace.
This international conference seeks to strengthen the basis for a more informed and balanced public debate on the JEP's successes and challenges, its contributions to international criminal law, international humanitarian law, and transitional justice, and its contribution to the fight against impunity and peace building. This will increase conceptual clarity in the current context of apparent tensions between the objectives of justice and peace, specific to the Colombian transitional justice project.
The conference is organized by Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Colombia, the Embassy of Colombia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Center for International Criminal Justice of the VU Amsterdam, and the Faculty of Legal Sciences of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Bogotá.