Major Radhika Sen, an Indian woman who worked as a peacekeeper for the UN mission in Congo, will receive a prestigious military gender champion award. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called her a “true leader and role model.” Major Sen, who worked for the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), will receive the prestigious “2023 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award” from Guterres on May 30, which is International Day of UN Peacekeepers. The ceremony will take place at the world body’s headquarters here.
From March 2023 to April 2024, she was in charge of MONUSCO’s Engagement Platoon for the Indian Rapid Deployment Battalion (INDRDB) in the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This was reported by a UN news release.
The Indian Army has had her for eight years now. She was born in Himachal Pradesh in 1993. She made it as a biotech engineer and was working on her Master’s at IIT Bombay when she chose to join the army.
In March 2023, she was sent to MONUSCO as the Engagement Platoon Commander with the Indian Rapid Deployment Battalion. In April 2024, she finished her job.
It is the second time that an Indian peacekeeper has won this coveted award. The first time was in 2019 for Major Suman Gawani, who worked for the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and received the United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award.
Guterres praised Major Sen for her work and said she was a “true leader and role model.” The United Nations as a whole should be proud of her work. In a statement, he also said that she and her troops were working with women and girls in conflict-affected villages in North Kivu while the fighting was getting worse. With her humility, kindness, and hard work, she won their trust.
The statement also said that when Major Sen heard she had won the award, she thanked the people who chose her and thought about her role in keeping the peace.
“This award is important to me because it recognizes the hard work of all the peacekeepers who work in the difficult conditions of the DRC and do their best to make things better in society,” she said.
“Keeping the peace in a way that respects women is everyone’s business, not just women like us.” Peace starts with all of us, in all of our beautiful differences!” The statement said that Major Sen led searches and activities with people of different genders in a dangerous area where many people, including women and children, were leaving everything behind to escape the fighting.
The UN’s “Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award,” which was created in 2016, honors a military peacekeeper’s hard work in supporting the principles of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security.
The Award, which was made by the Office of Military Affairs in the Department for Peace Operations (DPO), goes to the military peacekeeper who has best brought a gender viewpoint to their work. According to UN Peacekeeping, the winner is chosen every year from candidates put forward by Force Commanders and Heads of Mission from all peace missions.
With 124 women currently serving, India is the 11th country that sends the most women to work as soldiers for the UN. India has always been one of the countries sending the most troops and cops to UN peacekeeping missions.
