Gavin Williamson has announced a new Centre for Excellence for Human Security to help the armed forces be better prepared to prevent and respond to sexual violence in conflict.

The centre will deliver training on peace and security, women, children and armed conflict, human trafficking, protection of civilians, sexual exploitation and abuse and cultural property protection.

The defence secretary made the announcement at the army training base on Salisbury Plain in front of personnel, armoured vehicles, and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.

A demonstration during a visit by defence secretary Gavin Williamson to Salisbury Plains training area. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

There was a short military exercise, which included flares and tanks, with soldiers and actors demonstrating how the army protects non-combatants in a conflict zone.

Williamson said: “In modern warfare there is no ‘front line’ and the sad reality is that innocent bystanders are in harm’s way in conflicts around the world. Protecting civilians from human rights violations is as much a military task as defeating the enemy.”

He added: “It’s having a more intelligent, thoughtful, holistic approach using the very best of academia to teach our soldiers the skills that they need.”

The UK is the first military in the world to have a dedicated national defence policy on human security, according to the Ministry of Defence. The new centre will build on the work the army has done to protect civilians, including the deployment of military human security advisers to UN peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2014 and providing training for peacekeepers in Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria on protecting people from sexual violence in conflict, the MoD said.

A soldier carries out a military exercise at the army training base. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

Cpt Tim Graham, who was deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2017 and won an MBE for the work he did supporting women and children, described the announcement as a “game changer” for the army.

“It’s going to help us realise our potential to be a force for good, particularly on UN operations around the globe … This is going to make us much better officers.” He said it was an important realisation that conflict was fast evolving. “We, as the army, have to be fast evolving as well.”

Phoebe Todhunter, a human security advisor in the army who focuses on gender issues, said the training would help soldiers think of the impact of their operation on the local population. “If we go into a country and we don’t take into account the security needs of the people, we can actually have an indirect worse effect.”

Lt Jason D’Souza, who recently returned from South Sudan as part of the UN mission, said he’s already seen the impact this approach can have. “Towards the end of our tour we were made aware of over 120 cases of conflict-related sexual violence that involved men, women, and children aged from eight to 80,” he said.

These acts of violence were taking place as civilians walked through a 45km isolated stretch of land from their village to the area NGOs were distributing aid, with attackers hiding in bushes. The army built a road that allowed NGOs to drive directly to the village. “We had a direct impact in reducing the amount of conflict-related sexual violence in the area,” D’Souza said.

Gavin Williamson announces the UK’s plan to open a Centre of Excellence for Human Security. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

The Centre of Excellence scheme will be funded from a new human security budget and will cost around £2m a year.

Williamson described the British armed forces as “the very best in the world,” and added it was therefore unacceptable that a group of soldiers were shooting at a picture of Jeremy Corbyn during target practice. “It’s completely unacceptable what happened and it certainly shouldn’t happen. That’s why the army have immediately announced an investigation.”

He said of the initiative on gender-based violence: “We all go into politics because we believe we can be a change. It’s far too easy when you’re involved in the armed forces to talk about tanks, ships, and airplanes, but the reason we are involved in conflict is to protect people, it is to protect those who are most vulnerable and this is very much about doing that.”

Williamson said it was too early to talk of his legacy yet and denied any interest in leaving his ministerial post to put himself forward for the upcoming Tory leadership race. “I’m incredibly fortunate to have one of the best ministries in the whole of government so I’m very much focused on doing the job there.

“I have no doubt there are going to be many, many, many candidates that come forward and I’ll look at them all with great interest and what I want to do is ensure I will be voting the person that is going to be best for the country and best for the Conservative party.”