An eventual peace deal between Colombia’s government and rebel group FARC must comply with international law, an official of the International Criminal Court said Thursday in Bogota.
Associate analyst at the ICC office, Daniel Ulmer, said that the office is closely monitoring the developments in the peace talks between Colombia’s largest guerrilla group FARC and the national government.
According to Ulmer, an eventual peace agreement with the FARC will also have implications under international law.
“Any solution that is reached has potential implications for the complementary action of the International Criminal Court because the agreement may affect national procedures to address crimes in which the ICC has jurisdiction,” Ulmer was quoted as saying by Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.
In this regard the ICC official stated that, “any proposed solution in the peace talks must be compatible with the Rome Statute.”
For example, the Colombian government is not allowed to grant amnesty in cases of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
To avoid possible misinterpretations, Ulmer clarified that the “ICC welcomes any agreement that will end the conflict.”
Colombia signed the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court in 1998, an agreement that was ratified in August 2002. Upon ratifying the Rome Statue, Colombia declared that it would not accept the Court’s jurisdiction with respect to war crimes for a period of seven years as at that time it was negotiating the demobilization of paramilitary organization AUC.
War crimes committed after 2009, could be investigated and prosecuted by ICC if Colombian justice refuses or fails to do so, disregarding possible deals made between the Colombian government and the alleged perpetrators of these crimes.