An Indian peacekeeper wins the UN's top gender award — India's second in three years

Major Abhilasha Barak, India's first woman combat aviator, was named UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year for her work with UNIFIL in Lebanon — spotlighting India's peacekeeping record and the Women, Peace & Security agenda.

What happened

• The Prime Minister congratulated Major Abhilasha Barak on being conferred the UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award.
• Major Barak serves as an Engagement Team Commander and Gender Focal Point within the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
• The honour was framed as recognition of her service and of India's longstanding contribution to UN peacekeeping, and as an inspiration to young Indians, 'especially our daughters'.
• Barak is India's first woman combat aviator — she completed the Combat Army Aviation Training School course in 2022 and flies the indigenous ALH Dhruv helicopter.
• The award (instituted 2016 by the UN's Office of Military Affairs) honours a peacekeeper who best integrates a gender perspective into peacekeeping, under UNSC Resolution 1325.
• India's Major Radhika Sen won the same award in 2023 (serving with MONUSCO in the DR Congo), making Barak the second Indian recipient in three years.

For Prelims

• UNSC Resolution 1325 (2000): the landmark resolution on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) — calls for women's participation in peace processes and a gender perspective in peacekeeping. The award is built on it; highest-yield fact here.
• UNIFIL: the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, established 1978, deployed in southern Lebanon along the Blue Line with Israel; India is a long-standing troop contributor. Don't confuse it with UNDOF (Golan) or UNMOGIP (India–Pakistan).
• India & UN peacekeeping: India is one of the largest cumulative troop contributors to UN peacekeeping (since 1948), with the first all-women Formed Police Unit deployed to Liberia (2007) — a recurring fact pair.
• The award lineage: instituted 2016 by the UN Office of Military Affairs; Indian winners — Major Suman Gawani (2019, South Sudan), Major Radhika Sen (2023, MONUSCO), and now Major Abhilasha Barak — a strong 'Indian women peacekeepers' set.
• Abhilasha Barak: India's first woman combat aviator (Army Aviation Corps); combat aviation was opened to women officers in 2021 — links to the wider induction of women in combat and command roles in the armed forces.
• Engagement Team / Gender Focal Point: peacekeeping roles that interface with local communities (especially women) and mainstream gender in operations — the substance behind the 'gender advocate' citation.
• MONUSCO & DR Congo: the UN stabilisation mission in the DR Congo (where Radhika Sen served) — a nameable mission to contrast with UNIFIL.
• Don't confuse: this is a UN peacekeeping award for a serving officer abroad — NOT a national gallantry award; and UNIFIL (Lebanon) is distinct from India's other UN deployments.

For Mains

Syllabus: GS2.17 · GS1.6 · Linkage L2