Colombia slashes funding for its peace court — and a Senate panel votes to close it by 2028
Colombia’s transitional justice court, created to try crimes from the country’s six-decade armed conflict, faces deep budget cuts — and a Senate committee has voted to shut it down. President Abelardo de la Espriella’s government has cut about 181 billion pesos, roughly $57 million, from the 2027 budget of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, known as the JEP, according to a report published on Friday, 30 October.
On Wednesday, 28 October, a Senate committee advanced a bill to scrap the JEP by March 2028 and hand its work to the ordinary courts. Set up in 2016 under the peace deal with the FARC guerrilla group, it tries former rebels and soldiers for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It was due to run until 2033 and has nine cases under way, including sexual violence and child recruitment.
More than 450,000 people were killed in the conflict, and more than 100,000 are reported missing. For victims’ families, it has been the one place offering answers. Angela Cordon’s father and uncle disappeared in Huila in 2003; their bodies were never found. Through the JEP, she learned where they were held and executed — and she fears the cuts will end the field missions that search for the missing.
De la Espriella says the cuts are needed to manage public debt of more than $370 billion, and has called the court slow and biased against the military. Critics say it has convicted senior FARC leaders and offered leniency to soldiers and rebels who cooperate. More than 20 members of Congress have asked the International Criminal Court to help protect its work.
Why it matters
The JEP is the justice arm of the 2016 peace deal, and supporters say no other court has given victims the same answers. The cuts also hit the unit searching for the disappeared, whose funding could fall about 22 percent to around $18.2 million — threatening DNA testing of families and some 10,000 planned exhumations.
What happens next
The closure bill still needs full approval in Congress, where ending the mandate would need a two-thirds majority in a divided chamber. Victims’ groups and supportive lawmakers are pressing Congress and international bodies to defend its funding before the 2027 budget takes effect.
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
Sources
- https://grenadachronicle.com/how-cuts-under-colombias-de-la-espriella-threaten-a-key-human-rights-court/ (Al Jazeera feature, via Grenada Chronicle, 30 October 2026)
- https://mymixfm.com/2026/10/13/budget-cuts-would-impair-colombia-peace-court-search-for-disappeared-officials-say/ (Reuters, via MIX-FM, 13 October 2026)
- https://rocketnews.com/2026/10/how-cuts-under-colombias-de-la-espriella-threaten-a-key-human-rights-court/ (Al Jazeera feature summary, via RocketNews, 30 October 2026)
