Tag Archive for: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls

Protecting refugees Women and Girls from Violence

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Abstract

An increasing number of refugees worldwide are women and children. In many cases, they are forced to leave their homes due to armed conflicts, insecurity or generalised violence. For women and girls, their migration experience is shaped by some particular features, the roots of which lie in the gendered forms of violence they may face throughout their journey. Some may leave their country of origin because of experiences of gender-based violence or in fear of such violence. Without regular pathways to reach a country where they can seek international protection, women often have to resort to dangerous routes. During their journey, they are exposed to sexual and gender-based violence.

However, once they reach their destination, many women and young girls still face risks due to limited access to support services, a lack of effective procedures to identify survivors of gender-based violence and inadequate reception conditions in accommodation facilities.

The aim of this report is to suggest positive actions that international organisations, local, regional, or national authorities, civil society organisations and NGOs can take to better protect refugee women and girls from violence. This is with the goal of promoting the exchange of good and promising practices and opening up a space for transnational dialogue, experience-sharing and peer-to-peer learning.

 

Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence: a workshop in Minnesota (USA)

Violence against women and girls is a global challenge that requires effective, comprehensive and immediate policy solutions. Recent data shows that at least 30% of women worldwide have suffered physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence,  confirming the urgency of the matter on a global scale. Fortunately, in some parts of the world, local initiatives and frameworks have already proven highly successful in tackling gender-based and domestic violence, which can serve as examples to the global community.

The “Coordinated Community Response (CCR) to Domestic Violence” implemented in Minnesota (USA) is one of those initiatives. Also known as the “Duluth Model”, the method has been successfully protecting women from domestic violence for more than 30 years. For this, it was awarded the 2014 Future Policy Award as the world’s best policy addressing domestic violence. In April 2016, our team travelled to Minnesota, US, to facilitate a workshop that aimed to spread this comprehensive policy to other communities.

The “Coordinated Community Response (CCR) to Domestic Violence” workshop brought together advocates, law enforcement officers, legal professionals and policy-makers from six different countries (Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Trinidad & Tobago) to explore and witness first-hand the key principles of CCR as it is being implemented in Duluth (Minnesota, USA). This method, also referred to as the “Duluth Model”, promotes cooperation of all relevant actors, such as police and probation officers, prosecutors, and NGO advocates, working to prevent and combat domestic violence. This coordination effort proves as a highly effective approach for the implementation of domestic violence laws and focuses on victims’ safety and offender accountability.

The workshop provided an extraordinary opportunity for participants to learn the techniques of CCR from its designers/founders/initiators – and in the community that has most successfully implemented it – and develop an understanding and framework from which to respond to domestic violence in their own communities.

The World Future Council (WFC) was a funding partner of this nine-day workshop, planned and hosted by Global Rights for Women (GRW), a Twin Cities based non-profit, and presented in partnership with Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (DAIP) out of Duluth, Minnesota. The workshop took place from 28 March to 5 April 2016.

Workshop Report

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Report

Workshop details

  • 18 participants from six different countries (Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Trinidad & Tobago)
  • 68 hours of training, convening, observing and peer-to-peer exchange over 9 days
  • Three days of intensive training by the staff at the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (DAIP) in Duluth (Minnesota) and four days of training by Global Rights for Women’s legal experts in Minneapolis (Minnesota).
  • Observation opportunities: participants visited a 911 emergency communications centre, shadowed police officers responding to calls, attended domestic violence court hearings, met with prosecutors and probation officers, and observed men’s nonviolence group meetings.
  • The study tour also included meetings with parliamentarians, representatives from local authorities, law enforcement entities, judges and prosecutors, service providers and civil society organizations.
Workshop Agenda

Future Policy Award 2014

In 2014, the Duluth model was named the world’s best policy to address violence against women and girls by the World Future Council (WFC), UN Women, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). Our Future Policy Award highlights the world’s best policy approaches to the most pressing political challenges that the global community is facing today. In 2014, the award was dedicated to celebrate the best laws and policies that contribute to ending one of the most pervasive human rights violations of our time: violence against women and girls.

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Next steps

The World Future Council will continue to work with our partners to facilitate the transfer of knowledge between policymakers and their NGO counterparts and to support them in introducing the model in their communities.

Project partners

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GRW is a non-governmental organization that envisions a world where women’s human rights to equality and freedom from violence are fully realized.

Author

Marta Sánchez Dionis, Policy Officer, Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, World Future Council

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US Vice President Joe Biden visits Duluth

The Gold Winner of the Future Policy Award 2014 to end violence against women and girls was highlighted by US Vice President Joe Biden at an event in Duluth, Minnesota, on October 23. The City’s Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence, which is known as the “Duluth Model”, was recognised as the world’s best policy to end violence against women and girls at the Future Policy Award Ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland on October 14.

Future Policy Award 2014: Ending Violence against Women and Girls

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Abstract

The Future Policy Award identifies and celebrates exemplary laws and policies for the most pressing political challenges the global community is facing today. Ending violence against women and girls remains one of the most serious challenges, since it weakens all other efforts towards a future just society. The Award highlights achievements in policy-making and its implementation, as well as visionary new approaches.

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Future Policy Award 2014: Duluth Model is world’s best policy

Geneva – 14 October 2015: The “Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence” by the City of Duluth in the US State of Minnesota is the winner of the 2014 Future Policy Award for Ending Violence against Women and Girls. It beat 24 other nominated policies to the prize. The Gold Award is to be presented to Minnesota Representative Michael Paymar from the Minnesota House of Representatives today at a ceremony in Geneva by the World Future Council, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women.

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Ending violence against women and girls: 25 policies nominated for Future Policy Award 2014

World Future Council partners with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women to highlight solutions to a global human rights emergency

Press release  – for immediate release

Hamburg/Geneva/New York, 6 June 2014 – Twenty-five policies on ending violence against women and girls have been nominated for the Future Policy Award 2014. This was announced by the World Future Council, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women today.  Violence against women and girls is one of the most pervasive and predominant forms of human rights abuses in the world.

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