PM congratulates Main Abhilasha Barak for receiving UN Navy Gender Advocate of the Yr Award | India Information
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday congratulated Main Abhilasha Barak on being awarded the UN Navy Gender Advocate of the Yr Award. He stated the honour was a recognition of her excellent service and India’s longstanding contribution to United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Main Barak, who can also be the Indian Military’s first girl fight helicopter pilot, is serving with the UN mission in Lebanon at current. She obtained the award for her outreach efforts and neighborhood engagement actions for ladies and adolescent women and gender sensitisation coaching for peacekeepers.
Main Barak educated on the Officers Coaching Academy, Chennaiand was commissioned in September 2018. She hails from an Military household.
“Congratulations to Main Abhilasha Barak on being conferred the UN Navy Gender Advocate of the Yr Award,” the Prime Minister stated in a publish on X, including that Main Barak is serving as an Engagement Group Commander and Gender Focal Level throughout the United Nations Interim Drive in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
“This honour is a recognition of her exemplary service and in addition of India’s longstanding contribution to United Nations peacekeeping efforts. Her achievement can also be an inspiration to numerous younger Indians, particularly our daughters, who aspire to serve the nation and humanity,” he stated.
The announcement had come final month, when the Everlasting Mission of India to the UN posted on X: “Proud to announce that Main Abhilasha Barak has been awarded the 2025 UN Navy Gender Advocate of the Yr Award. She is being recognised for her outreach and neighborhood engagement actions for ladies and adolescent women and gender sensitisation coaching for peacekeepers.”
Congratulations to Main Abhilasha Barak on being conferred the UN Navy Gender Advocate of the Yr Award. Main Barak is serving as an Engagement Group Commander and Gender Focal Level throughout the United Nations Interim Drive in Lebanon (UNIFIL). This honour is a recognition… pic.twitter.com/00Yyv963GT
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 7, 2026
The publish talked about that Main Barak is the third recipient of the award from India, following Main Suman Gawani and Main Radhika Sen, who had been honoured for his or her work throughout their tenure in UN peacekeeping missions.
India is among the largest contributors of troops and police personnel to UN peacekeeping missions worldwide. Till February 2026, UNIFIL comprised 7,538 peacekeepers from 48 international locations, together with 642 personnel from India, making it the fourth-largest contributor after Italy (784 personnel), Indonesia (756) and Spain (660).
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Based on an official UN assertion, Main Barak has been serving with UNIFIL since June 2025 as Engagement Group Commander and Gender Focal Level with the Indian Battalion in Sector East, southern Lebanon.
The award was introduced by UN Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres on the UN headquarters in New York on June
UN Underneath-Secretary-Basic for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix stated that Main Barak’s work demonstrates how advancing gender equality strengthens peacekeeping operations and helps extra sturdy peace.
The assertion famous that she has led intensive outreach efforts reaching greater than 5,000 girls and women by means of training, healthcare and vocational coaching programmes geared toward supporting empowerment and post-conflict restoration. “Inside six months, she carried out 539 gender-focused subject actions, the very best quantity recorded throughout the mission, whereas additionally main all-women patrols during times of heightened tensions,” it stated.
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“Main Barak additionally launched a man-made intelligence-driven platform often called the Lebanon Gender Initiative, designed to strengthen safety mechanisms for ladies and kids. The platform allows confidential reporting of gender-based violence and supplies entry to helpline companies, grievance monitoring, self-defence assets and academic supplies,” it stated.
“Her efforts additionally helped 75 Lebanese girls from communities throughout southern Lebanon safe totally funded scholarships beneath India’s Indian Technical and Financial Cooperation (ITEC) programme. The scholarships present skilled coaching in areas resembling renewable vitality, agri-entrepreneurship and finance,” it stated.
