In this seminar, Hugo Escobar Fernández de Castro (Deputy Judge at Colombia's National Jurisdiction and former Deputy Judge at the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP)) explores how the JEP in Colombia has sought to operationalise restorative justice within a large-scale transitional process. Drawing on his experience as a magistrate’s clerk and researcher, Hugo will analyse three key practices: (i) dignified return ceremonies for the disappeared (notably in the Dabeiba/Las Mercedes cemetery case), (ii) protective measures designed to preserve sites, memory, and victims’ rights, and (iii) public hearings between victims and perpetrators. The session will also examine pilot projects for Trabajos, Obras y Actividades con Enfoque Restaurativo (TOARs), the innovative sanctions envisaged under the Peace Agreement, while critically assessing the obstacles that have delayed their full implementation. Emphasis will be placed on the challenges of inter-institutional coordination, state co-responsibility, and the broader question of whether restorative sanctions can deliver both truth and reconciliation in deeply divided societies.

Speaker bio:
Hugo Escobar Fernández de Castro is a Deputy Judge at Colombia’s National Disciplinary Jurisdiction (Comisión Nacional de Disciplina Judicial). He previously served for more than seven years as a Deputy Judge at the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), where he worked on landmark investigations, including Case 03 (extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearance linked to the Las Mercedes cemetery in Dabeiba), Case 10 (means and methods of warfare used by the FARC), and precautionary measures for the protection of graves and victims of enforced disappearance. He teaches Constitutional Law at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and postgraduate courses in International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law at Universidad Santiago de Cali and Universidad del Magdalena. Hugo holds an LL.B., a specialization in Administrative Law, and an LL.M. in Public Law from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, where he is also completing a Ph.D. in Human Rights. His work integrates Human Rights, Constitutional Law and restorative/transitional justice.