New York, 28 May 2026 - The United Nations has announced the 2025 recipients of its Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award and Woman Police Officer of the Year Award. Major Abhilasha Barak of India will receive the Military Gender Advocate Award and Inspector Stephanie Königs of Germany will receive the Woman Police Officer of the Year Award during a ceremony marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers on 5 June 2026.
The awards will be presented at United Nations Headquarters in New York by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
“These awards honour peacekeepers who invest in peace every day—protecting communities, building trust and ensuring that women’s voices and leadership are at the heart of lasting solutions,” said Jean Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations. “Major Barak and Inspector Königs exemplify how advancing gender equality makes United Nations peacekeeping stronger and more effective on the ground.”
Major Abhilasha Barak of India has been named the 2025 Military Gender Advocate of the Year in recognition of her outstanding leadership in promoting gender-responsive peacekeeping and advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda during her deployment with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) since June 2025.
Serving as Engagement Team Commander and Gender Focal Point within the Indian Battalion, in Sector East, southern Lebanon, Major Barak integrates gender perspectives into military operations, patrols and civil-military activities, ensuring that operational decisions reflect the realities and needs of women and vulnerable groups.
As a frontline commander, she has led extensive outreach efforts, engaging over 5000 women and girls through vocational training, education and health programmes that support empowerment and postconflict recovery. Within six months, she conducted 539 gender-focused field activities, the highest within the mission, while leading all-women patrols amid repeated hostilities.
She has also introduced innovative protection mechanisms, including an AI-driven platform, The Lebanon Gender Initiative, designed to support gender protection mechanisms within the mission. The platform enables women and children to confidentially report gender-based violence, while offering grievance tracking, access to helpline services, self-defence resources, and educational materials, thereby improving survivors’ access to essential support services. In parallel, thanks to her efforts, 75 Lebanese women aged 25 to 45 from communities across southern Lebanon were able to access fully funded international scholarships, under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, equipping them with professional skills in sectors such as renewable energy, agri-entrepreneurship, and finance, thereby creating tangible pathways for women’s long-term economic empowerment.
Through sustained field engagement and excellent gender responsive peacekeeping efforts, she has built trust with local communities, created safe spaces for dialogue and contributed to the development of early-warning networks, strengthening both community protection and mission effectiveness.
“This mission is about giving women the freedom, opportunity and support to reclaim their voices and stand strong. For me, it carries the same honour, courage and sense of purpose as any battlefield, it is not just a duty, it is a calling. Dreams don’t have a gender.” - Major Abhilasha Barak
Inspector Stephanie Königs of Germany has been named the 2025 United Nations Woman Police Officer of the Year in recognition of her outstanding leadership and contribution to implementing the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), where she was deployed from September 2024 to March 2026.
Serving as a Patrol Team Leader within the mission’s police component, Ms. Königs has demonstrated exceptional commitment to the protection of civilians and policing in complex and high-risk environments.
Between October and December 2025, a period marked by heightened political sensitivity and movement restrictions in Juba, Inspector Königs demonstrated that police leaders, women and men alike, can serve with professionalism, integrity, confidence and consistency, generating positive impact both within the organization and across the host State security sector and local communities. Through her efforts, peacekeepers were able to access critical areas, including internally displaced persons' sites, where they could engage with vulnerable communities and provide lifesaving support.
She further strengthened field operations through the introduction of structured patrol systems, enhanced coordination with the Mission's military peacekeepers, with whom she established regular briefings to improve situational awareness. Her leadership contributed to reinforcing early warning mechanisms, supporting mission-level decision-making during periods of crisis.
A strong advocate for gender equality in policing, Ms. Königs demonstrates effective leadership through her professionalism, resilience, and impact. Operating in a high-risk and politically sensitive environment, she has shown that women can lead frontline policing efforts with confidence and authority, strengthening both mission effectiveness and trust with local communities.
“Operational policing is the face, the eyes and the ears of UN Police. Leadership means serving the mandate and protecting the team, even under the most difficult conditions.” - Inspector Stephanie Königs
About the Awardees
Major Abhilasha Barak has served as Engagement Team Commander and Gender Focal Point with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) since June 2025. As the first woman combat helicopter pilot of the Indian Army, she broke new ground in military aviation after being commissioned into the Army Air Defence Corps in 2018, following her graduation from Delhi Technological University and training at the Officers Training Academy Chennai. Prior to her deployment, she served in frontline aviation roles, gaining extensive experience in complex and high-risk operational environments.
Inspector Stephanie Königs began her first UN peacekeeping deployment with UNMISS in South Sudan (September 2024-March 2026), serving as a Patrol Team Leader. With over 13 years in policing and public service, her career reflects steady growth shaped by national and international experience. In Germany, she has served in various operational and leadership roles and currently works as Deputy Shift Leader in Grevenbroich. Growing up in a “police family,” Inspector Königs inherited a strong sense of fairness and dedication, which guided her into the police service. Valuing service and human rights, she fulfils her duties with respect and empathy, aiming to make a tangible difference in people’s lives. She previously served with the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (2021-2023), strengthening her expertise in emergency response, support to survivors of gender-based violence, and community-oriented policing.
About the Awards
The United Nations Woman Police Officer of the Year award was established in 2011 to recognize the exceptional contributions of women police officers to UN peace operations and to promote women’s empowerment, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. The UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award is presented annually since 2016 to a military peacekeeper - male or female - who has shown outstanding commitment and leadership in promoting the principles of UN Security Council Resolution Resolution 1325. The resolution calls on actors to mainstream a gender perspective in all aspects of peacekeeping and peacebuilding and to ensure women’s participation in peace and political processes. The Resolution also calls for the protection from, and prevention of, conflict-related sexual violence and for an expansion of the role and contribution of women in UN operations, including of uniformed women peacekeepers.
The awards ceremony will be held at United Nations Headquarters on 5 June from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EST and broadcast live on UN Web TV. More information, photos and digital assets on the awardees are available on a dedicated Trello Board.
Media contacts
Department of Global Communications - Doug Coffman - coffmand@un.org +1 917 361 9923
Department of Peace Operations - Sophie Boudre boudre@un.org +1 917 691 5359