Overview
- On Friday Major Abhilasha Barak received the 2025 UN Military Gender Advocate Award from Secretary‑General Antonio Guterres at a ceremony marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
- Barak serves with the Indian Battalion in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon as Commander of the Female Engagement Team and as her country's first woman combat helicopter pilot.
- UN officials said Barak engaged thousands of women and girls through vocational training, education and health programmes and helped build early‑warning networks to protect civilians.
- The award highlights work carried out while UNIFIL has become one of the UN’s most dangerous missions, with multiple peacekeeper casualties reported since March.
- The prize, created in 2016 to promote the Women, Peace and Security agenda, is the third time an Indian officer has won and Indian leaders said the recognition underscores India’s broader role in UN peacekeeping.