“If we don’t stand firm to end this war, we shall have no future. Young girls are being raped every day, yet grandmothers are not spared either. I do not know where we are heading as a nation.”

The passionate appeal of Alice Kiden David, a soldier and nurse of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), is perfectly understandable. She has witnessed what war does to a country and its people. She fears that she may lost her son to violence.

“Once soldiers are taken to the frontlines, they take too long to return to their families, yet others will never see the next dawn of the day. I have not seen or heard from my own child since the war began,” she says.

On this day, she and a group of forty other senior SSPDF officers are attending a one-day workshop on conflict-related sexual violence. The event is organized at the Mahad military garrison in Yei by the Human Rights Division of the United Nation Mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, in an attempt to promote peace and root out all forms of violence against women and girls.

Salva Malok, a Sargent at the counterintelligence office in Yei, says that the training has opened his eyes to the importance of respecting every single individual regardless of his or her ranks, colour, ethnicity, political or religious affinities.

“Respect everyone’s property and never take anything by force as this will only tear our country apart. For our country to prosper and indeed to survive, both the army and civilians must cooperate, so that disputes are resolved non-violently,” Mr. Malok said, adding that continued fighting has a detrimental impact on everything from schooling and farming to trade and business.

For his colleague, Lieutenant Jacob Alick, the workshop was also a wake-up call, especially when it comes to forced and early marriages and instances of rape, which are often induced by armed conflict.

“As of today, I have learnt that rape is real, because if you force even your wife into bed it is rape. From today on, I will be an ambassador advocating against rape and abuses against women and girls.”

In fact, equipped with a deeper understanding of the work of the UN peacekeeping mission, Mr. Alick says that he will also approach family members and friends extolling the virtues of the UN’s contributions to durable peace.

Mary Achiro, part of the SSPDF’s medical corps, stressed that now she knows how to properly report and act on cases of sexual violence.

“I have learnt that victims of rape have to be given mental support as well as a post-exposure treatment within 72 hours of the sexual encounter for a better response to infections like HIV,” she explains.

On her part, Mary Lokoyome, an UNMISS Human Rights Officer, was adamant that a victim of rape is never to be blamed, regardless of the time of the assault, the (possibly drunken) state of the perpetrator, or the appearance or clothes of the woman or man being subject to the sexual violence.

“There is never ever an excuse for committing rape or any other forms of sexual violence, under any circumstances whatsoever,” she concluded.