Indian Peacekeeper Wins 2023 UN Military Gender Advocate Award

May 29, 2024

Major Radhika Sen, an Indian peacekeeper in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), won the prestigious UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year award in 2023. This award was given to her because of her outstanding service and active participation in gender-sensitive projects at the UN peacekeeping operation MONUSCO.

Context and Deployment

Major Sen was in charge of the Engagement Platoon for the Indian Rapid Deployment Battalion in Eastern DRC from March 2023 to April 2024. During her time in office, she made important improvements to the safety and well-being of local people, especially in the conflict-torn North Kivu area.

Advocacy for Gender Sensitivity

Major Sen pushed for gender-sensitive actions and exchanges in her platoon, creating a welcoming and polite space for everyone. Her work went beyond military service; it included English classes for kids and people who had been forced to move or were on the outside of society, as well as educational and vocational training. She actively worked to bring women together and pushed them to fight for their rights and get more involved in neighbourhood discussions about peace and safety.

Recognition and Awards Ceremony

Antonio Guterres, who is Secretary-General of the UN, is going to give the award to Major Sen to recognize how important she is to the UN’s goals of peace and equality. The ceremony shows how important it is to keep the peace while taking into account the needs of both men and women, and how important people like Major Sen are in war zones.

About MONUSCO

The UN Security Council created MONUSCO, the UN Organization Stabilization operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 2010. It grew out of MONUC, which was an earlier operation. It is one of the biggest UN efforts to keep the peace, with about 16,300 people working there. It is MONUS.servers’ job to keep people safe from violence, especially in places like North Kivu that are prone to conflict. There has never been a time in UN peacekeeping history when UAVs were used for monitoring like they are now. Another thing that makes MONUSCO stand out is its Intervention Brigade, which was permitted in 2013 to carry out targeted offensive actions against armed groups. This is something that not many other UN missions can say.

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