On 5 June 2019, academics from British, German and American universities met at the University College London Institute of the Americas in the fourth Embrace Dialogue Academia seminar. The discussion centred on the state-society relationship and the capacity of state institutions in Colombia to deliver on promises, in particular, the gender commitments of the Peace Accord.

Widespread historic mistrust in the state exists in multiple sectors of Colombian society. Building trust in the state can only happen if the state delivers on its promises. The Peace Accord created hundreds of instances of inter-institutional collaboration; yet despite the presence of many highly committed individuals at all levels of the state, many of us have noted in our research a systemic lack of knowledge about how to do inter-institutional collaboration, as well as work overload, corruption and clientelism. If these are not overcome, the state’s failure to deliver on the promises made in the Peace Accord will reconfirm its lack of capacity and will, and strengthen the distrust that Colombians have in their state.

The commitments achieved on gender in the Peace Accord set a worldwide precedent. However, implementation under the new administration remains lacking. We reiterate the importance of addressing gender-based violence beyond a narrow focus on sexual violence to include consideration of the gender dimensions of land ownership, political participation and security guarantees for social leaders and human rights defenders. The focus on gender should include LGBTI populations and their needs.

We are also concerned that the monitoring of gender commitments has increasingly been dropped in international media and debate on the Colombian peace process, despite being included in the Kroc Institute’s tracking mechanisms. Colombian civil society refers to the Peace Accord in interactions with state institutions to demand compliance with its gender commitments and this gives us hope. Yet the onus should not only be on civil society to pressure state institutions to deliver.

This month President Iván Duque visits the United Kingdom, a country which has prioritised the “Women, Peace and Security” agenda and the elimination of gender-based violence in its foreign policy goals and its support to the Colombian peace process. On the occasion of the renewal of the bilateral agendas of the two countries, we call on the British and Colombian governments to implement the broad-ranging gender perspectives of the Peace Accord, ensuring the inclusion of LGTBI issues within the gender approach. We also call for the bilateral agenda to include institutional capacity. Peace is only possible if corruption and clientelism are seriously addressed by both state institutions and international interventions. State institutions are organisations, and require structural overhaul to deliver on their commitments.

The Peace Accord can still be an opportunity to restructure the relationship between state institutions and society; but the state must deliver its stated goals in order for trust to be built. Finally, we call on Colombian civil society to recognise that the state is product of society, and vice versa. Improving the state means asking what kind of state we want to build, and working to create it.