Fifty Rwanda Defence Forces officers will today begin a course on “prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence in peacekeeping theatres”.The two-day training will take place at Rwanda Peace Academy in Musanze District.According to a statement from the academy’s director, Col Jill Rutaremara, the course is a result of collaborative efforts between the UN Women, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations Overseas (DKPO), and the academy on behalf of government.“The goal of the training is to arm uniformed peacekeepers with positive illustrative examples of how to effectively respond to sexual violence in conflict and post conflict environments,” reads part of the statement by Rutaremara.Lead roleSponsored by UN-Women, the course is centred on the scenario-based training modules for UN military personnel on the specifics of preventing and responding to sexual violence. The officers are mostly those in pre-deployment training and others serving as instructors in the area of peace support operations.“Rwanda was selected for the piloting of this course because of her lead role as a troop contributing country and her gender-responsive peacekeeping,” Rutaremara said.
