“I have learned a lot. It’s always a sensitive, complicated case when any form of sexual or gender-based violence is involved and it is very good for us, as police officers, to have a sort of step-by-step guide on the correct investigative and interview techniques,” said Captain Lurita Jada, member of the Specialized Protection Unit of the South Sudan National Police Service.

Captain Jada is one of seven women police officers from a total of 17, who attended a recent refresher course facilitated by United Nations Police (UNPOL) officers working with UNMISS, following a prior intensive training-of-trainers on investigating crimes of a sexual nature while ensuring sensitivity and support to survivors of such abuse conducted in April.

This two-day refresher is meant for participating officers to own the knowledge they gained in prior workshops and trickle down their learning to colleagues across the country.

Divided in to three groups, participants presented their progress on dealing with issues related to conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, based on the skills they acquired previously.

They were also given a booklet with guidelines to topics such as internationally accepted policing responses on sexual violence; associated referral systems for survivors of such crimes; the six grave violations of children’s rights; and case management techniques for first responders and so forth.

For her part, Police Adviser Agnes Robert expressed appreciation for the commitment demonstrated by local uniformed counterparts in learning all possible ways to reduce sexually-motivated crimes and urged them to pass on their skills to colleagues so that they can fully serve and protect all communities across South Sudan.

“Let others know what you know, let the community see that you are there to protect them and build faith and confidence within the local population so that they trust you,” she said in conclusion.