Colombia’s 2027 budget decree and figures from the Special Jurisdiction for Peace indicate the conflict tribunal will have 16.6% less funding than in 2026, as lawmakers consider ending its mandate early.
Under Decree 1599, issued Oct. 22, state spending for 2027 totals COP634.952 trillion. Colombia’s Finance Ministry said the decree uses changes approved during the budget’s first debate, after the Senate and House could not settle differences between their versions.
The ministry said the decree carries forward that debate’s distribution. The JEP reported that its proposed allocation fell from COP821.803 billion to COP651.803 billion during the debate, with COP140 billion cut from investment and COP30 billion from operations. The ministry’s account, read alongside the court’s figures, indicates the decree allocation is COP651.803 billion. The JEP said that is COP129.667 billion, or 16.6%, below its 2026 budget.
The court warned that reduced funding could constrain hearings in conflict-affected areas, legal representation for victims, investigations and protection for witnesses and other participants. It said it might cover an average of only four months of protection measures in 2027. The JEP estimates the cuts could affect 16,097 individual victims and 444 collective groups representing about 634,804 people, as well as 12,355 Farc-EP members and 4,736 public-force members appearing before it.
Al Jazeera reported Oct. 30 that Angela Cordon said the JEP helped her family piece together what happened to her father and uncle, who went missing in 2003 and were held captive and executed. “Fewer resources mean fewer missions to the field to find answers,” Cordon told the outlet.
A separate proposal, Project of Legislative Act 018 of 2026, would make the JEP’s 10-year term non-extendable, end its work in March 2028 and transfer pending investigations and cases to ordinary courts and the Attorney General’s Office, according to the Senate. El País and El Colombiano reported that the measure passed its first Senate committee debate Wednesday, Oct. 28. It must still complete the legislative process.
The proposal’s sponsor, Sen. Enrique Gómez Martínez, argues that a five-year extension would cost about COP6.2 trillion from 2027 through 2033, which he says should instead go to ordinary courts. The JEP’s current statutory schedule runs through 2033 and includes time to conclude proceedings. The court was established under Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement with the Farc-EP to investigate and judge serious conflict-related abuses committed before Dec. 1, 2016.
