Colombia

Biblioteca Abierta del Proceso de Paz colombiano (BAPP)

Online repository of material relating to the Colombian peace process following the years of conflict with the FARC guerillas. Provided by the Compaz Foundation with Norwegian funding, it includes reports, letters, academic research, speeches, regulatory material, minutes, press releases and other documents, as well as audio, video and photographic content. There is a search facility and the colllection can be filtered by phase of the peace process, topic, author, document type and other criteria.

Relati: buscador especializado de la JEP

Jurisprudence database provided by the Office of the General Rapporteur of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz, or ‘JEP’). The JEP is the judicial component of Colombia’s transitional justice system. It deals with the most serious crimes from the period of armed conflict involving the FARC guerillas (1964-2016). The Relati database has simple and advanced search facilities and a browse function. It is accompanied by information pages focusing on the ‘macro-cases’, with timelines, factsheets, decisions and other documents for each one.

Council of State

The Council of State is the supreme administrative court of Colombia. Its website, which is in Spanish, provides cases, recent administrative acts, a jurisprudence bulletin and news. Publications are available under ‘Comunicaciones’, including reports on electoral / constitutional affairs and books on contentious administrative law, human rights, indigenous rights, environmental law, gender equality, popular and group actions and other topics.

Normativa (Legislation)

Colombian legislation provided by the Presidency's administrative department, DAPRE. Each type of legislation - laws, decrees, directives, and so on - is browseable by year, 2015 onwards; for older instruments, select ‘Normas anteriores’. There is a basic search facility. The page also links to the Diario Oficial (Official Gazette), the SUIN law portal, and information about ‘tutela’ writs. All the content is in Spanish.

Sistema Único de Información Normativa (Unified Legislation Information System)

The main legislation site for Colombia, with the current and previous constitutions, updated codes, and laws from 1864 onwards, as well as court decisions on the validity or constitutionality of legislation. Additional content, available via the home page, includes a browseable collection of codes, constitutions and key statutes (‘Normas Destacadas’) and translations of the Constitution into indigenous languages: Inga, Guambiana, Ikun, Kamentsa, Kubeo, Wayuunaiki and Nasa Yuwe. The site is provided by the Ministry of Justice, in Spanish.

International Treaties

Treaties section of the official Colombian law portal, SUIN-Juriscol. Has two parts: ‘Biblioteca Virtual de Tratados’, a searchable register of treaties involving Colombia, including the date in force and other details; and ‘Leyes Aprobatorias de Tratados’, a set of treaty approval laws from 1873 onwards, many of which include the text of the treaty in question.

Court of Justice of the Andean Community

Website of the Court of Justice of the Andean Community (ECJCA) which settles disputes between Andean Community member states arising under Andean Community law and ensures the law is applied uniformly. Cases heard by the Court include infringement, action for annulment, labour lawsuits and arbitration claims. Case summaries and profiles of the judges are given on the site which can be viewed in Spanish only.

Constitution of Colombia

The Colombian Constitution of 1991 is available on the website of the Comparative Constitutions Project at the University of Texas at Austin. The document incorporates amendments up to 2015. There are chapters on fundamental rights, the organisation of the state and the role of the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Constitutional Court of Colombia

The role of the Colombian Constitutional Court is to determine the constitutionality of laws and protect the fundamental rights of the people. The court's website provides a case database, judicial bulletins, collections of cases by topic, statistics, court rules and other information. A micro-site devoted to the Constitution (under 'Micrositios') has documentation relating to the drafting of the 1991 Constitution and all the old Colombian constitutions, 1821 to 1886.

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