Reports suggest that Colombia’s government, led by President Abelardo De La Espriella, is considering withdrawing the country from the International Criminal Court (ICC) by renouncing the Rome Statute, the 2002 treaty that gives the tribunal jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
Legal scholar Mario Alberto Cajas Sarria points out that while joining a treaty in Colombia requires approval from all three branches of government, the constitution says nothing about the process for leaving one. He notes a telling precedent: in 2012, President Juan Manuel Santos withdrew Colombia from the 1948 Pact of Bogotá entirely on his own, using a diplomatic note, after an unfavorable maritime border ruling involving Nicaragua.
According to the column, the same logic would apply to the Rome Statute. The treaty itself allows any member state to withdraw through written notice to the United Nations, without needing to justify the decision, and Colombia’s constitution grants the president broad authority over foreign relations. The Constitutional Court has previously backed this presidential discretion, both in reviewing the law that approved the Rome Statute and in its 2014 ruling on the Pact of Bogotá.
Still, the author stresses that withdrawing would not erase obligations Colombia already took on while it was a member of the court.
Read the full analysis at El Tiempo.
Source: Retirar a Colombia de la CPI depende del Presidente (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: Martin St-Amant (S23678).