UN award for India’s Major Radhika Sen, Antonio Guterres calls her role model

Indian Army officer Major Radhika Sen will be receiving the UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year award on May 30 from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The UN chief has hailed Major Radhika Sen as a “true leader and role model”.

Major Sen worked with the UN mission in Congo as an Indian woman peacekeeper. Under her leadership, the troops spoke to conflict-struck communities, especially women and girls. Major Sen’s humility, compassion and dedication allowed the conflict-hit women and girls to trust the peacekeeping force.

Major Sen, who worked with the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), will be awarded the ‘2023 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award’ by Guterres in an event at the world body’s headquarters here on May 30 celebrating the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, according to PTI.

Major Sen was in the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from March 2023 to April 2024 as the Commander of MONUSCO’s Engagement Platoon for the Indian Rapid Deployment Battalion (INDRDB), according to a UN press release.

Born in the hilly terrain of Himanchal Pradesh in 1993, Major Sen joined the army in 2016. She studied biotech engineering and did a Master’s from IIT Bombay. She decided to join the Army while she was at IIT Bombay.

She was posted to MONUSCO in March 2023 as the Engagement Platoon Commander with the Indian Rapid Deployment Battalion and completed her tenure in April 2024.

Major Sen is the second Indian peacekeeper to receive this prestigious UN honour.

The first person to receive the award was Major Suman Gawani, who had worked with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and was given the 2019 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award.

Guterres wished her for her award and called her a “true leader and role model. Her service was a true credit to the United Nations as a whole”.

Guterres also talked in this statement about the increasing conflict in North Kivu in Congo.

Under Major Sen, the troops spoke to conflict-struck communities, especially women and girls. They were able to trust her as she carried herself with humility, compassion and dedication.

When Major Sen found out that the award was being bestowed upon her, she expressed gratitude for the award and for acknowledgement of her role.

“This award is special to me as it gives recognition to the hard work put in by all the peacekeepers working in the challenging environment of DRC and giving their best to bring a positive change in society,” Major Radhika Sen said.

“Gender-sensitive peacekeeping is everybody’s business – not just us, women. Peace begins with all of us in our beautiful diversity!” she said.

Major Sen carried out patrols where she spoke to people of all genders. This is necessary in a sensitive situation such as the conflict in the Congo, according to PTI.

The United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year was started in the same year as Major Sen joined the Indian armed forces: 2016. This award acknowledges and appreciates the tremendous work of military peacekeepers and how they carry forward the principles of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.

The award is the brainchild of the Office of Military Affairs within the Department for Peace Operations (DPO). It emphasises the importance of a military peacekeeper who has best worked from a gender perspective into the act of peacekeeping.

The candidates are nominated every year by Force Commanders and Heads of Mission from all peacekeeping operations, according to UN Peacekeeping.

India is the 11th largest country that sends women military peacekeepers to the United Nations. There are 124 women military personnel currently serving in the UN’s peacekeeping missions.

India has always contributed numerous troops and police to the UN.