Army's woman peacekeeper gets coveted UN award

NEW DELHI/DEHRADUN: Major Suman Gawani , an Army officer who served as a woman peace-keeper in conflict-torn South Sudan last year , was conferred with the prestigious “United Nations military gender advocate of the year award” on Friday.


Major Gawani, who was a military observer in the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) from November 2018 to December 2019, received the award along with a Brazilian naval officer, Commander Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo, from the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres during an online ceremony organised at New York on Friday.

“I deem it a great honour to receive this award, which I dedicate with great pride to all Indian peacekeepers. Women and children are the most vulnerable and worst-hit during conflict situations,” she said. “Being the first from the country is very exciting but the award comes with a very big responsibility too,” Maj Gawani, who hails from Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, told TOI.