International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

At the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25 November 2014, the WFC and UN Women co-hosted the discussion about “Violence against Women: Best Laws and Policies – Learning from the winners of the 2014 Future Policy Award” at the UN Headquarters in New York. Alexandra Wandel, WFC Director, chaired the session that brought together the Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and the President of the IPU’s Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians, Margaret Mensah-Williams, as well as representatives of the FPA winners: Marja Ruotanen (Council of Europe), Michael Paymar (Minnesota House of Representatives), Melissa Scaia (Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs Duluth), Andreas Riecken (Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations) and Nafissatou J Diop (UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM/C).

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16th Women Against Violence Europe Conference

The WFC participated in the 16th Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE) Network Conference “Future Perspectives on Preventing Violence against Women and their Children” in Vienna on 19 November 2014. Karin Heisecke, Senior Project Manager, joined international experts (including the former UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Rashida Manjoo) in the closing panel discussion of the conference: “Violence against women – What should be achieved in 20 years’ time and how do we get there?”. The Conference brought together more than 300 participants (NGO professionals, academics, representatives from international and European institutions and state officials), including high representatives from the Austrian government, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, the Vice-President of the European Parliament, as well as representatives from the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), and the United Nations.

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: 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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