Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, on the conclusion

01:21 AM September, 14 2017

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Statement: 13/09/2017

Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, on the conclusion of her visit to Colombia (10-13 September 2017)

Today, I concluded my first visit to Bogota in the context of the on-going preliminary examination of the situation in Colombia. The purpose of this visit was to obtain clarifications on certain aspects of the future Special Jurisdiction for Peace (“SJP”), as well as information about the status of relevant national proceedings relating to extrajudicial killings of civilians known as “false positives”, sexual and gender-based crimes and forced displacement.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Government of Colombia for providing its support to this visit and facilitating the meetings with national authorities. During these three days, I had constructive exchanges with senior officials from the executive and the judiciary, including H.E. Mr J.M. Santos, the President of Colombia; the Minister of Justice; the Presidents of the Constitutional Court of the State Council and of the Supreme Court, as well as the Executive-Secretary of the SJP. I also benefited from the opportunity to meet with the Attorney General where I stressed the importance of receiving concrete and specific information on investigative steps taken with respect to the potential cases identified by my Office.

Finally, I am very grateful to representatives of Colombian civil society organisations for engaging with me during this visit. I have listened carefully to their views and concerns, which will continue to inform my assessment of the situation.

The implementation of the historic peace agreement concluded between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (“FARC-EP”) enters a decisive stage. In this context, I was impressed by the commitment, invaluable experience and high standards of Colombian courts. Their determination to ensure genuine accountability for the most serious crimes and respect for the rights of victims will be essential to overcome the challenges in implementing the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition called for by the peace agreement.

In concluding my visit, I would like to restate my Office’s disposition to act, within my mandate under the Rome Statute, as a good faith partner of the Colombian government and the Colombian people in this journey towards sustainable peace.

The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC conducts independent and impartial preliminary examinations, investigations and prosecution of the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Office has been conducting investigations in: Uganda; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Darfur, Sudan; the Central African Republic (two separate investigations); Kenya; Libya; Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Georgia. The Office is also conducting preliminary examinations relating to the situations in Afghanistan; Burundi; the registered vessels of Comoros, Greece and Cambodia; Colombia; Gabon; Guinea; Iraq/UK; Palestine, Nigeria and Ukraine.

Interim Report (2012) and Report on Preliminary Examination Activities 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.