Strengthening the justice system and fighting impunity

The Forum “International Justice and the Fight against Impunity” is an initiative of the Colombian Attorney General’s Office, which is seeking to create a space for dialogue about European, Latin American and Colombian experiences to strengthen the justice systems and their effectiveness in fighting impunity.

The Attorney General of the Nation, Fernando Carrillo, opened the meeting in Cartagena de Indias, at which topics were discussed including criminal policy measures from an international perspective, a roundtable in which the presidents of the National Court and the Secretary General of the Spanish Justice Administration took part, and restorative justice and guarantees for victims.

The director of FIIAPP, Pedro Flores, and the Deputy Attorney General of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, Mónica Cifuentes Osorio, made the closing speeches of the forum. Pedro Flores highlighted the commitment of FIIAPP to the Colombian General Attorney’s Office and all the government departments to “assist with the design and implementation of a variety of public policies, programmes and initiatives”. The director of the Foundation also said that “Colombia is a priority and a country that is especially active in the regional programmes between the European Union and Latin America that are managed by FIAPP.”

These are programmes like EUROsociAL+, which is assisting with a variety of victims’ rights recognition and protection programmes from a restorative viewpoint, and EL PAcCTO to tackle the entire criminal justice chain, by supporting police, judicial and prison policy making in regard to organized transnational crime. The two are also connected, according to Pedro Flores, since “EUROsociAL+’s focus on restorative justice is based on ideas that reinforce and complement the traditional justice process, which is aided by EL PAcCTO”.