Community Justice School of the National University of Colombia

The National University of Colombia has enjoyed a distinguished track record of more than a decade's academic experience in community justice, primarily in the Faculty of Law, Political and Social Sciences. In 1993 the Faculty began an extension program, and since 1995 community justice has been incorporated as a subject in the Faculty's study plan. Currently the Faculty of Law offers various related courses, including Legal Sociology, Conciliation, Research Seminar in Community Justice, Family Conciliation, Alternative Mechanisms for Conflict Resolution, and Multiculturalism and Special Group Rights.

At the beginning of 2006, the Community Justice School was formed in order to consolidate the National University's initiatives in community justice. Since then the School's mandate has been to articulate the teaching, research and extension of the subject of community justice. It has been charged with improving internal dialogue between the Faculties and other institutions associated with community justice, as well as external dialogue between the university and various local, national and international actors working in community justice.

The Community Justice School boasts a multidisciplinary makeup: a law professor as its general coordinator, lawyers, political scientists and students from various disciplines. The School has as its primary goal the advancement, promotion and consolidation of community justice in Colombia, with an emphasis on equitable justice mechanisms for the resolution of disputes.

The School views community justice as a popularly-driven mechanism for conflict resolution. Equitable justice contemplates State-regulated practices of conflict resolution, such as justice of the peace, conciliation, Afro-Colombian settlement mechanisms, and communal conciliation. The School also researches other subject areas: indigenous justice and Afro-Colombian justice.