Bogotá, Colombia, October 16th, 2023.- On October 11th, during the 162nd Regular Session of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights held in Bogotá, Colombia, the Court’s Training Center along with the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP) held a training on the application of international human rights law to the transitional justice system of Colombia, directed at officials from that institution.
Dr. Alexei Julio Estrada, Legal Director of the I/A Court H.R., opened the training session with the keynote lecture “Overview of how International Human Rights Law contributes towards compliance with the mandate of the SJP.” In addition, several aspects of the inter-American system, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and its jurisprudence were covered, including its composition and organization, its contentious jurisdiction and the reparations ordered by the Court, as well as the impact and challenges of advisory opinions. Three dialog tables were organized to discuss: comprehensive reparation in a transitional justice framework; conventionality of the transitional benefit of amnesty; the subsidiarity principle and the inter-American standards of investigating, prosecuting and punishing grave human rights violations in contexts of transitional justice.
The training session took place at the facilities of the SJP. More than 70 individuals participated in person, including Judges, court assistants and legal personnel of the chambers. Judge Roberto Carlos Vidal López, President of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace; Judges Alexandra Sandoval Mantilla and Xiomara Balanta Moreno, President and Vice President of the Chamber of Amnesty or Pardon of the SJP; Judge Oscar Parra Vera, member of the Chamber of Acknowledgment of Truth and Responsibility and Determination of acts and conduct of the SJP; Deputy Judge, Ana María Mondragón Duque; Deputy Judge Juan Pablo Cardona Chávez; SJP attorney Santiago Medina Villareal, attorney María Ibáñez Rivas, consultant of the Education Center of the Inter-American Court and SJP General Rapporteur Dilia Lozano Suárez also participated in the event.
The training session was broadcast through the SJP’s internal channels, thus providing online access to employees from its seat in Bogotá.
This training was possible thanks to the support of the European Commission through the project “Improvement of the institutional capacities of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, phase 2” implemented by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.