Indian Army Officer Major Abhilasha Barak Honoured with UN Military Gender Advocate Of The Year Award 2025
Bengaluru. Indian Army officer Major Abhilasha Barak, serving with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has been honoured with the prestigious United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award for 2025.
Major Barak is currently serving with the Indian Battalion as Commander of the Female Engagement Team in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Ms. Barak is also the first woman combat helicopter pilot from the Indian Army.
The recognition, makes Major Barak the third Indian peacekeeper to receive the honour. Prior to her, two other women officers have made the country proud by being recipients of the UN award with Ms. Suman Gawani awarded in 2019 for her service with the UN Mission in South Sudan, and Radhika Sen receiving the award in 2023 for her work with the UN Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The award, instituted by the Office of Military Affairs under the UN Department of Peace Operations in 2016, recognises a military peacekeeper who has shown exceptional commitment to promoting gender equality and implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
The recipient is selected annually from nominations submitted by Force Commanders and Heads of Mission across UN peacekeeping operations worldwide.
India has been one of the major and the largest contributors of troops and police personnel to UN peacekeeping missions across the world.
