On July 29th 2019, academics from British and Colombian universities met at the Institute of Political Studies and International Relations of the National University of Colombia for the fifth Embrace Dialogue Academia seminar. Together with members of the Truth Commission and representatives of social organisations, they discussed the achievements and challenges of the Truth Commission Gender Working Group. They concluded that, although the Commission has innovated in its gender approach, its biggest challenge is to strengthen a communication and pedagogy strategy, which should be coordinated with civil society.

The mere existence of the Gender Group is in itself an achievement of the struggles of women’s and LGBTI movements, and sets a precedent for future truth commissions in the world. The Gender Group has had a “domino effect”, both internally in the different areas of the Commission, as well as influencing the methods for collecting testimonies. In addition, the Gender Group has made progress in the recognition of patterns of violence against women and LGBTI groups and of the multiple types of sexual violence, and has maintained a territorial, intersectional and intersectoral approach with a broad understanding of gender.

However, several challenges remain. These include a political context with a discourse that delegitimises peace, and regressive narratives about sexual and gender identities, characterised by the discourse about “gender ideology”, a misnomer deployed in the context of the 2016 peace plebiscite. For this reason, it is necessary to make progress with the communications and pedagogy strategy, emphasising those sectors who are not involved in any social organistions, and who are either indifferent to or oppose the peace process. This could help those victims who have not yet spoken up to share their stories with the Commission, including women, LGBTI communities and victims that do not belong to any organisations.

To consolidate the achievements and effectively overcome the challenges, we propose establishing a coalition, reinforced by a critical mass, which can lend support to both the Gender Group and the Truth Commission as a whole – in particular, contributing to the communications and pedagogy strategy, to build social legitimacy. Additionally, we call on the academy and on civil society organisations, to promote hope about peacebuilding in Colombia, and support the Truth Commission’s work conducting interviews with victims and perpetrators.