ASEAN women military officers training in New Delhi for United Nations peacekeeping assignments were felicitated by the Chief of the Army Staff, General Dhiraj Seth, on Thursday, the Indian Army said.

The Army chief interacted with 11 women officers from ASEAN countries and their Indian counterparts at the Manekshaw Centre, where they are attending the ASEAN-UN Women Military Officers Course. He acknowledged their commitment to widening women's participation in United Nations peacekeeping.

What the ASEAN Women Military Officers course covers

The ASEAN women military officers are on a course that runs from 10 to 21 August at the Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping in New Delhi. It readies officers for deployment on missions abroad.

The centre is the Indian Army's dedicated peacekeeping training establishment and trains more than 12,000 personnel a year across national and international courses. Run by the Indian Army, it has also sent mobile teams to partner countries to build their peacekeeping capacity.


A programme born at the India-ASEAN table

The felicitation grows out of the ASEAN-India Initiative for Women in UN Peacekeeping Operations, which Defence Minister Rajnath Singh carried forward at the India-ASEAN defence ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur in 2025.

The two phases Singh proposed

He proposed a second edition of the initiative in two phases. The first is a set of tailor-made courses for women military officers, the present course among them; the second is a table-top exercise on protecting civilians and the role of women peacekeepers.

The United Nations has set a goal of raising women's numbers in its missions, on the view that deploying women peacekeepers makes conflict resolution more achievable and helps establish a just peace.

The Ministry of Defence ties the effort to India's Act East engagement, one strand of a broader defence engagement across Southeast Asia.

Where India stands on women peacekeepers

India is among the largest contributors of troops to United Nations peacekeeping, and has pressed for a bigger role for women in the field. It sent the first all-women Formed Police Unit to Liberia in 2007, and has since fielded Female Engagement Teams in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Abyei and women military police in the Golan Heights.

The same venue hosted a Conference on Women Peacekeepers from the Global South in February 2025, drawing participants from 35 countries.

A widening role for women in uniform

Within India's own forces, women have moved into roles once closed to them, from an all-women tri-service circumnavigation to the first woman to qualify as a Fighter Combat Leader.

The 11 ASEAN officers and their Indian counterparts finish the course on 21 August.