JEP — Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz

Constitutional basis

The Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz (JEP) is a self-standing branch of the judiciary of the Republic of Colombia, created by Acto Legislativo 01/2017 to implement the FARC peace agreement of November 24, 2016. It is part of the Sistema Integral para la Paz and consists of the Truth Commission (CEV), the Unit for the Search for Disappeared Persons (UBPD), and the JEP as the judicial element.

Subject-matter and personal jurisdiction

The JEP has jurisdiction over offenses committed before December 1, 2016 in connection with the armed conflict. It covers FARC-EP fighters, members of the armed forces and the national police, as well as civilian terceros (third parties) who voluntarily submit to the JEP. The main forms of proceedings are the procedimiento dialógico (with a confession) and the procedimiento adversarial (without a confession).

Article 19 of the JEP Statute — bar to extradition

Article 19 of the JEP Statute establishes a general bar to extradition for persons under JEP protection, insofar as the allegations relate to conduct before December 1, 2016 with a connection to the conflict. Extradition requests from third states (in particular the USA) must be submitted to the JEP for its opinion before they are carried out — the JEP decides whether the allegations fall within its jurisdiction.

Sanctions regime

Instead of classic custodial sentences, the JEP system provides for differentiated sanciones propias — where there is a confession, up to 8 years of restriction of rights and freedoms with limits on movement; for later confessions, up to 8 years of imprisonment (sanciones alternativas); and where there is no cooperation, up to 20 years under ordinary criminal law (sanciones ordinarias).

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