It is responsible for coordinating the integral attention of the State to the Political Affairs in order to strengthen our democracy, and for Justice, in order to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens.

Article 3 Law 790 of 2002 merged in the Ministry of the Interior, of Justice, and of Law, creating the Ministry of Justice and the Interior.

This way, according to decree 200 of 2003, the Ministry has the following 10 general objectives:

1. To formulate policies, general plans, programs, and projects of the Administrative Sector of Justice and the Interior.

2. To formulate the Government policy regarding the internal public order, in coordination with the National Minister of Defense within his scope; political affairs; citizen coexistence and human rights; citizen participation in life; social and political organization of the Nation; relationships between the Nation and territorial institutions of the Republic; access to justice, to the legal defense of the Nation and legal order; penitentiary; drug world problem; legal security; notary and real property matters; emergency and disaster prevention and care; and author rights.

3. To contribute to the development of the National Government’s peace policy.

4. To promote the order and territorial autonomy, the decentralization policy, and the institutional strengthening, within its scope.

5. To consolidate, when managing political affairs, participative and pluralist democracy.

6. To promote and guarantee fundamental rights and freedom of citizens, public order, and citizen coexistence.

7. To support the design agreed with the respective state institutions regarding policies of the fundamental, social, economic, cultural, and collective rights, and the implementation of the Humanitarian International Right.

8. To promote policies that guarantee freedom of cult and the individual right to freely profess a religion or creed.

9. To support the design of policies and execute the ones within its scope regarding rights and affairs of ethnic groups.

10. To contribute to the harmonic exercise of competences and attributions of national institutions according to what was established in article 6 Law 489 of 1998.

The Ministry of Justice and the Interior has the following functions, besides the ones established in the Political Constitution:

1. To guide, coordinate, and control, according to the law and respective organic structures, the participating and related institutions and to promote and execute activity scattering and delegation plans and functions in the Administrative Sector of Justice and the Interior.

2. To organize and coordinate the Administrative Development Sectorial Committee and to watch over the creation, supervision, and follow-up of the respective Information Sectorial System.

3. To formulate, coordinate, evaluate, and promote policies regarding the strengthening of democracy, political and legislative affairs, and of the citizen participation in the political and social organization of the Nation.

4. To formulate, coordinate, evaluate, and promote the State policy regarding the preservation of public order in coordination with the Minister of National Defense, within his scope, citizen coexistence, and the protection of human rights.

5. To formulate, promote, and execute policies, about pertinent matters within its scope, regarding territorial decentralization, order, and autonomy, institutional development, and political and public order relations between the Nation and territorial institutions.

6. To support the submission of the State policy addressed to ethnic groups and execute it, within its scope, in coordination with the other competent entities of the State.

7. To design, coordinate, execute, and evaluate the State policy regarding the reintegration of armed people or organized outlaw groups, into civil life, have them demobilized or voluntarily leave their weapons, in coordination with the Ministry of National Defense.

8. To coordinate and guarantee the regular development of electoral processes.

9. To participate with the National Government in the design of policies related to the protection of public faith and to the notary system.

10. To participate with the National Government in the design of policies related to records of public real estate, the System, and title to real property functions.

11. To participate with the National Government in the design of policies related to author rights and connected rights.

12. To coordinate and organize the National System of Disaster Prevention and Care and to participate in the design of policies related to prevent and face emergencies and disasters.

13. To establish, coordinate, support, and foment one efficient and prompt State policy regarding justice, rights, and other related aspects.

14. To participate in the design and definition of the principles that rule the State criminal and penitentiary policy, to prevent crime, actions against organized crime, and to promote the generation of a modern infrastructure for imprisonment establishments.

15. To formulate, coordinate, evaluate, and promote policies regarding the illicit drugs world problem, within its scope.

16. To prepare law projects related to the Administrative Sector of Justice and the Interior.

17. To prepare decree projects and executive resolutions that should be followed according to the attributions that correspond to the President of the Republic as the highest administrative authority, to guarantee with his signature the fulfillment of the requirements for their issuance, and to develop the orders related to such attributions.

18. To coordinate with the Congress of the Republic the legislative agenda of the National Government with the participation of the other departments.

19. To carry out the legal dispositions related to the Fund of Security and Coexistence, FONSECON.

20. To organize and run a Study Center where the national and international political phenomena are studied, analyzed, and spread.

21. To promote and enforce, within its scope, the rules about ownership condemnation proceedings and to supervise the policies and agenda for the allocation of seized and confiscated property according to the law.

22. To be a connection between the Executive Branch of the Congress of the Republic, the Judicial Branch, the Office of Vital Statistics, and the control entities within their scope.

23. To formulate, coordinate, evaluate, and promote policies and strategies that enable the access to community, alternative, or formal justice and the use of alternative conflict solution methods.

24. To design entailment mechanisms of individuals and the citizenship when providing services related to the Justice Administration and recommend the use of alternative mechanisms to solve conflicts.

25. To design, apply, and spread a general policy of judicial defense for the Nation.

26. To design and apply rationalization policies and strategies of legal order and the democratization of legal information.

27. To coordinate the defense of legal regulations, to suggest regulatory reforms and advise the State and its institutions when submitting regulatory initiatives.

28. To design dissemination strategies in order to approach the community to the current legislation and to guide the community about matters inherent to the Ministry.

29. To prepare draft plans or investment programs and other public disbursements that correspond to the Administrative Sector of Justice and the Interior as well as its administrative development plans.

30. To guide, coordinate, and control administratively the management of institutions that make part of the Administrative Sector of Justice and the Interior.