Javier Augusto Sarmiento Olarte
Legal Advisor
Lawyer, Specialist in Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and candidate to a Master's Degree in Criminal and Criminology Sciences of the Externado de Colombia University.
In 2006, he worked for the Superior Court of Valledupar - Criminal Chamber, office in which he had the responsibility of preparing second instance orders of criminal processes related to the armed conflict, among others.
During the first semester of year 2007, he worked as a trial attorney in constitutional, criminal and civil law affairs. In June that year, he joined the Ministry of National Defense - Humanitarian Attention for the Demobilized People Group (GAHD) as a contractor lawyer in charge of the on site attention of the people undergoing a individual demobilization, as well as their families, in order to guide them in the regulations in force and the procedure of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR).
In 2008, on behalf of the Ministry of National Defense, he led the design and implementation of the demobilization of people deprived from freedom (Decree 1059 of 2008, repealed today).
During years 2009 and 2010, while being part of the Ministry of National Defense, he led projects such as the design and implementation of the Framework Agreement CM 144, entered into by the High Commissioner for Peace Office, ACR, ICBF and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which was oriented towards the search, identification, verification and design of the attention plan for boys, girls, teenagers and young people that allegedly were not disengaged by AUC during their collective demobilization between 2003 and 2006.
Since 2011, he was assigned the responsibility of managing topics directly related to the office of the Minister of National Defense regarding political and international affairs. His involvement in the design and issue of regulations related to humanitarian mine clearance by civil organizations can be highlighted.
In August, 2012, he was assigned the responsibility of GAHD's Legal Department, where he led legal processes, legal defense, preparing of lists of the individual postulates of the Justice and Peace Law and the dissemination of the DDR Policy and National System of Transitional Justice, Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in national and international scenarios, with an emphasis on sensitizing the members of the public force and the different training schools of the National Army, as well as those of the government entities. In addition, he had under his responsibility, the legal preparation and orientation of the Technical Secretariat of the Operation Committee for the Abandonment of Weapons (CODA).
In August, 2013, he joined the Colombian Agency for Reintegration (ACR) of Armed People and Groups to coordinate the Regulation and Concept Groups of the Legal Counseling Office, whose main mission is to issue concepts in the different contexts of the law, especially to define legal guidelines of the Social and Economic Reintegration Policy of former combatants.
He has also represented the Entity in legal and extra-legal proceedings, as well as in different scenarios with national and international entities, the academy and at events, where he has communicated the Reintegration Policy and the mechanisms of transitional justice and has coordinated the different processes and procedures within the entity. Additionally, he has contributed to the legal defense of the entity regarding constitutional actions.
Finally, he has represented the entity before CODA, the body that certifies individual demobilizations and whose certification enables the access to the Reintegration Phase under ACR's responsibility.