Major Suman Gawani of the Indian Army, who served as a peacekeeper with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in 2019, has won the prestigious United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the year Award, the Army said.
Major Gawani received the award from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during an online ceremony at the UN Headquarters, New York, on Friday on the occasion of International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.
Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo, a Brazilian Naval officer, also received the award.
As a military observer in UNMISS from November 2018 to December 2019, Major Gawani was the principal focal point of contact for gender issues for military observers in the mission. “The officer encouraged participation in joint military patrols to maintain gender balance, irrespective of the hardships under extreme field conditions,” the Army said, adding she also strived to integrate gender perspective into the planning and military activity in the mission.
She was selected to attend a specialised training on Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) at Nairobi, and participated in various UN forums to demonstrate how a gender perspective can help in protecting civilians, especially from conflict-related sexual violence, the Army stated. Later, she also trained the South Sudan government forces on CRSV related aspects.
