United Nations, May 29: Indian Army Major Radhika Sen has been selected to receive a UN award recognising her advocacy for women and girls while serving as a peacekeeper, Stephane Dujarric, the Spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, announced here.Dujarric said that Guterres will present Sen with the 2023 Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award on Thursday, which is observed as the International Day of UN Peacekeepers. The award recognises the efforts of a military peacekeeper in promoting the principles of the 2000 Security Council resolution that calls for protecting women and girls from conflict related sexual violence and sets gender related responsibilities for the UN.
Congratulating her, Guterres called her a true leader and role model. Her service was a true credit to the United Nations as a whole. Sen served with the Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) where she helped create the Community Alert Networks in North Kivu as a platform that brought in community leaders, young people, and women to voice their security and humanitarian concerns, according to the UN.
With her MONUSCO colleagues, she worked to address those concerns. Guterres said that with humility, compassion and dedication, she earned the trust of conflict affected communities, including women and girls as her troops engaged with them in an escalating conflict environment in North Kivu. Sen said, Gender sensitive peacekeeping is everybody.
