Indian Army officer Major Abhilasha Barak has been named the recipient of the 2025 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award. The United Nations Permanent Mission of India announced this recognition for her role as Commander of the Female Engagement Team within the Indian Battalion of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon. Major Barak is being honored for her local community outreach targeting women and adolescent girls, alongside conducting gender sensitization training for fellow peacekeepers. The presentation ceremony is scheduled to take place at the UN Headquarters on the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
Profiles of Major Abhilasha Barak
Major Barak stands out due to her military milestones and operational contributions in global peacekeeping.
- Combat Aviation Pioneer: Major Barak is the first woman combat helicopter pilot in the Indian Army. She was commissioned into the Army Air Defence Corps in September 2018 and qualified as a combat aviator from the Combat Army Aviation Training School in Nashik in 2022. She operates advanced platforms like the Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv and its armed variant, the Rudra.
- Peacekeeping Role: In southern Lebanon, she led the Female Engagement Team under the 26th Indian Battalion (INDBATT-XXVI). Her team facilitated direct communication with local populations to establish trust and address protection issues, particularly where local cultural customs restrict women from interacting with male military personnel.
Genesis and Framework of the UN Award
The award promotes specialized integration of gender perspectives within global military deployments.
- Institutional Setup: Created in 2016 by the Office of Military Affairs under the UN Department of Peace Operations, this award honors individual military peacekeepers who champion gender mainstreaming.
- Selection Process: The recipient is chosen annually by the UN from official nominations submitted by Force Commanders and Heads of Missions across all global peace operations.
- Legal Anchor: The award aligns with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security. This resolution mandates actors to integrate gender perspectives into peacebuilding, expand the role of uniformed women peacekeepers, and protect vulnerable groups from conflict-related sexual violence.
Indian Recipients of the Award
Major Barak is the third Indian peacekeeper to receive this international distinction.
| Year | Recipient | Mission | Key Operational Focus |
| 2019 | Major Suman Gawani | UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) | Mentored local military forces and integrated gender perspectives in monitoring mechanisms. |
| 2023 | Major Radhika Sen | UN Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) | Led community alert networks in North Kivu, prioritizing security inputs from displaced women. |
| 2025 | Major Abhilasha Barak | UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) | Supervised Female Engagement Team outreach and peacekeeper gender training in southern Lebanon. |
India’s Contribution to UN Peacekeeping
India maintains a long history of providing human resources and tactical assets to the United Nations.
- Troop Deployment Scale: India ranks among the largest troop and police-contributing countries globally. Indian personnel are actively deployed across multiple volatile mission sectors, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and Lebanon.
- UNIFIL Strength: India contributes 642 personnel to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, making it the fourth-largest contributor to the mission after Italy, Indonesia, and Spain.
- Pioneering Gender Inclusivity: In 2007, India became the first nation to deploy an all-female formed police unit to a UN peacekeeping mission, sending a contingent to the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
IASPOINT Booster Facts for UPSC
- International Day of UN Peacekeepers: Observed annually on May 29 to honor the professionalism and sacrifice of peacekeepers worldwide.
- Blue Helmets Terminology: Uniformed UN peacekeepers are commonly referred to as “Blue Helmets” due to their distinctive light-blue helmets or berets used for identification in field operations.
- UNIFIL Establishment: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon was originally established by the UN Security Council in March 1978 via Resolutions 425 and 426 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and restore international peace.
- UNSC Resolution 1325 Adoption: Adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on October 31, 2000, it marked the first formal document requiring parties to protect women during conflicts and involve them in peace negotiations.
- Indian Army Air Defence Corps: The parent arm of Major Abhilasha Barak, which split from the Regiment of Artillery in 1994 to focus on protecting ground assets from aerial threats.