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Indian woman peacekeeper Major Radhika Sen to receive UN military gender advocate of the year award. Who is she?
Radhika Sen served with the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from March 2023 to April 2024.
Indian woman peacekeeper Major Radhika Sen, who served with the UN mission in Congo, will be honoured with the prestigious military gender advocate award by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on May 30 (Thursday), marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
Who is Major Radhika Sen?
- Radhika Sen served with the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) from March 2023 to April 2024 as the Commander of MONUSCO’s engagement platoon for the Indian rapid deployment battalion (INDRDB).
- Major Radhika Sen joined the Indian Army eight years ago. She graduated with a degree in biotechnology engineering and was pursuing her Master's degree at IIT Bombay when she decided to join the armed forces.
- Sen was deployed to MONUSCO in March 2023 as the engagement platoon commander with the Indian rapid deployment battalion. She completed her tenure in April 2024. Sen is the second Indian peacekeeper to receive this prestigious award, following Major Suman Gawani, who served with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and was honoured with the United Nations military gender advocate of the year award in 2019.
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lauded Major Sen for her service and said she was a true leader and role model. "Her service was a true credit to the United Nations as a whole,” Guterres said.
- Reacting to the development, Major Sen said, “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 the society.”
“Gender-sensitive peacekeeping is everybody’s business – not just us, women. Peace begins with all of us in our beautiful diversity!” she added.
Created by the office of military affairs within the department for peace operations (DPO) of the UN in 2016, the United Nations military gender advocate of the year award acknowledges the dedication and efforts of an individual military peacekeeper in promoting the principles of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security.
The awardee is selected from among candidates nominated by force commanders and heads of mission from all peace operations. India currently ranks as the 11th largest contributor of women military peacekeepers to the United Nations.
(With inputs from PTI)
