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Military Gender Advocate Award 2023
Major Radhika Sen serving with the United Nations Organization Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) will receive the 2023 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award.
Major Radhika Sen served 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).
She will receive the award from UN Secretary-General António Guterres during a ceremony marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers on 30 May 2024.
Upon receiving news of the Award, Major Sen expressed her gratitude for being selected and reflected on her peacekeeping role: “This award is special to me as it gives a 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,” she said.
Major Sen led mixed-gender engagement patrols and activities in a volatile environment, where many people, including women and children, were leaving everything behind to flee the conflict.
As a Platoon Commander, she also helped foster a safe space for men and women to operate together under her command and quickly became a role model for both women peacekeepers and her male counterparts.
She also made sure that peacekeepers under her command engaged in a manner that is sensitive to gender and socio-cultural norms in eastern DRC to help build trust and thereby increase her team’s chance of success.
Major Sen is the second Indian peacekeeper to receive this prestigious award following in the footsteps of Major Suman Gawani who was a co-recipient for 2019. India is currently the 11th largest contributor of women military peacekeepers to the United Nations with 124 now deployed.
Born in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh in 1993, Major Radhika Sen joined the Indian Army eight years ago. Major Sen graduated as a biotech engineer and was pursuing her Master’s degree from IIT Bombay, when she decided to join the armed forces. She deployed to MONUSCO in March 2023 as the Engagement Platoon Commander with the Indian Rapid Deployment Battalion and completed her tenure in April 2024.
