“Her achievement is both a recognition of exemplary personal service and a reflection of India’s longstanding contribution to global peacekeeping.” — PM Narendra Modi, congratulating Major Abhilasha Barak, June 2026
Major Abhilasha Barak of the Indian Army has been conferred the United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award for 2025, in recognition of her contributions to women’s safety and gender-inclusive peacekeeping during her deployment with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The award was announced by UN Secretary-General António Guterres around the International Day of UN Peacekeepers (29 May). She is the third Indian military officer to receive this award, following Major Suman Gawani (2019) and Major Radhika Sen (2023). PM Narendra Modi congratulated her on 7–8 June 2026.
👤 Who Is Major Abhilasha Barak?
Major Abhilasha Barak hails from Rohtak, Haryana, from a distinguished military family — her father, Colonel (Retd.) S. Om Singh, and her brother both served in the Indian Army. She completed schooling at The Lawrence School, Sanawar, and earned a B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Delhi Technological University (DTU) in 2016. After briefly working as a Business Technology Analyst with Deloitte in the United States, she chose a military career.
She cleared the Services Selection Board (SSB) examination on four separate occasions — a mark of exceptional determination — before being commissioned into the Corps of Army Air Defence in September 2018 after training at the Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai. She secured an ‘A’ grade in the Army Air Defence Young Officers’ Course.
Her most historic milestone came on 25 May 2022, when she became India’s first woman combat aviator in the Army Aviation Corps, having completed training at the Combat Army Aviation Training School, Nashik, Maharashtra. The Indian Army designated 25 May 2022 a “Golden Letter Day” in Army Aviation history. She earned her wings alongside 36 other army pilots — the first woman officer inducted into the Army Aviation Corps in a combat role.
Think of Major Barak as someone who broke two glass ceilings in quick succession: first she became the Indian Army’s first woman combat helicopter pilot in 2022, then she went to one of the world’s most volatile peacekeeping zones (Lebanon) and won the UN’s top gender advocacy award in 2025. Both achievements flow from the same quality — determined commitment to roles that weren’t available to women before her.
🌍 Deployment & Work in UNIFIL, Lebanon
Major Barak serves in UNIFIL in a dual capacity:
- Engagement Team Commander: Leads the Female Engagement Team (FET), conducting ground-level tactical engagement with civilian communities to gather security intelligence and build trusted communication channels between UN forces and local populations — particularly reaching communities where all-male patrols face cultural or safety barriers.
- Gender Focal Point: Acts as the primary link between the UN military command and local Lebanese women’s organisations. Identifies gender-based vulnerabilities, improves humanitarian resource distribution, ensures safety frameworks are inclusive, and coordinates victim assistance initiatives.
She operates in the Blue Line zone — a 121-km stretch separating Lebanon and Israel — which UNIFIL monitors. The area remains operationally sensitive in the aftermath of the 2023–24 Israel-Hezbollah conflict and the fragile November 2024 cessation of hostilities.
As of February 2026, UNIFIL comprised 7,538 peacekeepers from 48 countries. India contributed 642 personnel — the fourth-largest contributor, after Italy (784), Indonesia (756), and Spain (660). The Indian Battalion (INDBATT) has maintained a presence in the Eastern Sector of the Blue Line for over 26 years.
| Country | UNIFIL Personnel (Feb 2026) | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | 784 | 1st |
| Indonesia | 756 | 2nd |
| Spain | 660 | 3rd |
| India | 642 | 4th |
✨ About the UN Military Gender Advocate Award
The UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award was established in 2016 by the Office of Military Affairs within the UN Department of Peace Operations (DPO). It is presented annually — typically on 29 May (International Day of UN Peacekeepers) — to an individual military peacekeeper (male or female) who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in promoting the principles of UNSCR 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security.
Candidates are nominated by Force Commanders and Heads of Mission from all active UN peace operations globally, making it a competition across every ongoing peacekeeping mission. Evaluation focuses heavily on practical field innovations: establishment of mixed-gender patrols, gender-responsiveness training, development of trusted networks with local women’s groups, and measurable improvements in community protection outcomes.
| Year | Awardee | Mission | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Major Suman Gawani | UNMISS | South Sudan |
| 2023 | Major Radhika Sen | MONUSCO | DR Congo |
| 2025 | Major Abhilasha Barak | UNIFIL | Lebanon |
Three Indians, Three Missions: Gawani → South Sudan (UNMISS, 2019). Sen → DR Congo (MONUSCO, 2023). Barak → Lebanon (UNIFIL, 2025). Remember: “South Sudan → Congo → Lebanon” — moving westward across Africa to the Middle East with each successive Indian winner.
⚖️ UNSCR 1325: The Women, Peace & Security Foundation
UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was adopted on 31 October 2000 — the first landmark UNSC resolution to formally address the impact of armed conflict on women and to recognise women’s indispensable role in conflict prevention, resolution, and post-conflict reconstruction. It built the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda on four pillars:
- Prevention — Preventing conflict-related violence against women
- Participation — Increasing women’s representation in peace and security institutions
- Protection — Special measures to protect women and girls from conflict-related sexual violence
- Relief and Recovery — Ensuring women’s involvement in post-conflict reconstruction mechanisms
Since UNSCR 1325, the Security Council has adopted eight further WPS resolutions (1820, 1888, 1889, 1960, 2106, 2122, 2242, 2493), expanding the framework for gender-inclusive peacekeeping. The Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award is one of the primary instruments for incentivising field-level compliance with this normative framework.
Don’t mix up dates and missions: The award was established in 2016 (not 2000). UNSCR 1325 was adopted in 2000. UNIFIL was established in 1978. Major Barak won the award for 2025, not 2026 (the year it was announced/PM congratulated her). Also: she was commissioned into Corps of Army Air Defence in 2018, not Army Aviation — she joined Army Aviation Corps after completing combat pilot training in 2022.
📌 India’s Record in UN Peacekeeping & Women’s Participation
India’s association with UN peacekeeping dates to 1950. Key milestones:
- 49 missions participated in out of 71 established since 1948
- 2,86,000+ troops contributed — among the highest cumulative contributions globally
- 180+ peacekeepers killed in service — highest of any country
- 1960: Indian women in Armed Forces Medical Services among the first female military personnel deployed under the UN flag (Congo)
- 2007: India deployed the world’s first all-female Formed Police Unit (FPU) to UNMIL (Liberia) — a pioneering initiative that directly inspired Liberian women’s participation in national security
- February 2025: Over 150 Indian women peacekeepers serve across six active UN missions
Despite the quality of individual contributions, India’s overall proportion of women in UN peacekeeping contingents is only 3.4% (as of September 2025) — the lowest among the top 10 troop-contributing countries, and below Nepal (9.83%), Bangladesh (7.7%), and Pakistan (5.6%).
India has produced three of the world’s top gender advocates in UN peacekeeping and deployed the world’s first all-female FPU — yet only 3.4% of its UN peacekeepers are women, the lowest among top-10 contributors. This paradox raises a key policy question: is India’s gender advocacy in peacekeeping driven by quality over quantity, or does the low overall representation undermine the credibility of individual achievements? What structural reforms would close this gap?
🌍 Geopolitical Context: UNIFIL in 2026
UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) was established by UNSC Resolutions 425 and 426 in 1978, originally to confirm Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. After the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, its mandate was expanded by Resolution 1701 (2006) to monitor the cessation of hostilities, support the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), and facilitate humanitarian access.
In August 2025, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2790 (2025), extending UNIFIL’s mandate for a final time until 31 December 2026, after which an orderly drawdown is to begin. Major Barak’s Gender Focal Point work in this setting — engaging Lebanese women near the Blue Line, many directly affected by the 2023–24 Israel-Hezbollah conflict and the fragile November 2024 ceasefire — gives her award particular operational significance.
Major Barak’s work sits at the intersection of three major themes: India’s evolving role in multilateral security governance; the operationalisation of UNSCR 1325’s WPS framework at the field level; and the question of women in combat and peacekeeping roles in the Indian Armed Forces. For GDPI/essays, consider: Should gender integration in peacekeeping be measured by headcount (India scores low) or by impact per officer (India scores high)? Which metric matters more for building institutional legitimacy?
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Major Abhilasha Barak won the UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award for 2025 for her work with UNIFIL in Lebanon. She is the third Indian to receive this award, after Suman Gawani (2019) and Radhika Sen (2023).
Major Barak became India’s first woman combat aviator in the Army Aviation Corps on 25 May 2022, earning her wings at the Combat Army Aviation Training School in Nashik, Maharashtra. The Indian Army declared it a “Golden Letter Day.”
UNSCR 1325 was adopted on 31 October 2000. It was the first landmark UNSC resolution to formally address the impact of armed conflict on women and recognise their indispensable role in conflict prevention, resolution, and post-conflict reconstruction.
India contributed 642 personnel to UNIFIL as of February 2026, making it the fourth-largest contributor, after Italy (784), Indonesia (756), and Spain (660). UNIFIL comprised 7,538 peacekeepers from 48 countries in total.
India deployed the world’s first all-female Formed Police Unit (FPU) to UNMIL (the UN Mission in Liberia) in 2007. This pioneering initiative directly inspired Liberian women’s participation in their national security sector.
