Charging Environmental Damage before the Colombian Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz (Policy Brief 13-2025)

This policy brief analyzes how Colombia’s Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz (JEP) has made progress in its approach to prosecuting environmental harm caused during the internal armed conflict and how it can continue to develop this jurisprudence in accordance with international law, particularly the Rome Statute. Based on Macro Cases 02 and 05, together with precedents recognizing the environment and the Cauca River as victims, it documents charges for war crimes linked to deforestation, water pollution, illegal mining, and the use of explosives. For the JEP, the International Criminal Court, and other jurisdictions, it is suggested that environmental harm be systematically incorporated into charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity; that the environment be recognized as a victim; and that the extraction of natural resources be considered a driver of the conflict, among other recommendations.