When the Final Peace Agreement was signed by the Colombian National Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army (FARC-EP) in 2016, it marked the end of over fifty years of war. The agreement itself attempted to strike a careful balance between seeking a peaceful end to armed conflict and ensuring justice and accountability for atrocity crimes. Indeed, scholars, diplomats, and actors in the human rights space have long debated these two objectives—whether one should be prioritized over the other and how to sequence them if both are pursued. Courts are particularly relevant in this process, and the Colombian peace agreement creates a complex judicial system to deal with issues of justice and accountability.

However, Colombia’s situation is unique because its peace process also falls under the jurisdiction of not one, but two international courts—the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR). Therefore, to understand Colombia’s relationship with the peace versus justice question, it is necessary to examine the interaction of these international courts within the context of the peace process, assess their impact, and reflect on opportunities for improvement. About six years after the peace deal and at a time when peace in Colombia seems fragile, it is worth re-evaluating what international courts—and international involvement in Colombia more broadly—could and should accomplish.

This Note argues that both the ICC and IACtHR have nuanced, but nevertheless substantial, roles to play in the Colombian peace process moving for-ward. After assessing the impact of the international courts’ involvement so far and examining the evolution of both courts’ views on the justice and peace question over the years, the Note reflects on the potential ways that international involvement could better support domestic efforts to navigate this tension in the future, in accordance with the international courts’ differing mandates and areas of expertise. The Note concludes that there is still space for international involvement in Colombia.

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