Lecture: Colombia’s Transitional Justice Model and International Law: Legal Tensions, Inter-American Challenges, and Global Insights

• Date: 06 May
• label.tijd 17:00 - 18:30
• Location: Leiden University

Lecture Overview

The Colombian transitional justice model, created under the 2016 Final Peace Agreement with the FARC-EP, is one of the most complex and ambitious efforts to harmonize national peacebuilding with binding obligations under International Human Rights Law (IHRL), International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and International Criminal Law (ICL). Its core mechanism—the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP)—has become a central focus of legal scrutiny both domestically and internationally.

This presentation examines the legal architecture of Colombia’s transitional justice system, with particular emphasis on its interaction with the Inter-American Human Rights System. While the model was carefully designed to meet international standards, it has faced multiple legal challenges from actors who have sought to bring its legitimacy into question before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Drawing on my experience as a member of the Colombian government’s delegation during the peace process, and as a lead legal representative in the State’s defense of the model before the Court, I will provide an insider’s analysis of the principal legal tensions, arguments presented, and the evolving jurisprudential response.

The presentation will highlight both the opportunities and constraints that arise when transitional justice is subjected to supranational legal review and assess Colombia’s contribution to the broader development of transitional justice doctrine in international law—particularly within the Inter-American context. Finally, it will explore the key legal challenges that remain for ensuring the model’s durability and legitimacy in light of ongoing international scrutiny.

Professional Biography

Professor Acosta has been a consultant on international law and transitional justice in the public and private sectors, Director of the Legal Clinic of Public Interest and Human Rights of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the Universidad de la Sabana, and member of the Editorial Committee of the International Journal of the Red Cross.

She has also served as Agent representing Colombia, Bolivia and Chile before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in more than 10 cases, President of the Colombian Academy of International Law, and Deputy Director of the thematic area of ​​the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace in the peace talks in Havana, Cuba which concluded in the 2016 Peace Agreement between the FARC-guerrilla and the Government of Colombia.

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