WUNRN
Inspirational US Policy Wins
Prestigious International Prize on Ending Violence Against Women
Future Policy Award 2014:
Duluth Model Is World’s Best Policy
Hamburg/Geneva/New York – 14 October 2014: 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
The “Duluth Model” won the Gold Award for effectively prioritizing the safety
and autonomy of survivors while holding perpetrators to account through a
coordinated response involving the whole community. This approach to
implementing legislation on violence against women has since inspired violence
protection laws and policies in other countries such as
On learning about the Gold prize for the pioneering “Duluth Model”, which he
helped initiate with the late Dr. Ellen Pence in the early
1980s, Representative Paymar said: “This is a great honor.
We never imagined the global impact that the Duluth Model would have, but more
importantly how many lives would be saved”.
Jakob von Uexkull, Founder and Chair of the World Future Council, said: ““This
prize celebrates policies that help us to do the right thing by creating the
right rules. We need laws which support a just world and protect the rights of
future generations.”
Silver awards were granted to two other policies.
“Comprehensive laws are a critical first step. Implementing them effectively is
just as crucial. These winners show what can be achieved when both aspects are
combined. IPU will continue to support parliaments’ efforts to make ending
violence against women a reality,” said IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong.
The Council of Europe’s “Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence
against Women and Domestic Violence”, also known as the Istanbul Convention,
which came into force in August of this year, won the World Future Council’s
first ever “Vision Award” for a particularly promising policy.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director, concluded: “The policies
awarded represent truly inspirational models for others. Importantly,
the emphasis has also been on rigorous implementation. Political
will and sufficient resources are critical for promising legislation to
have a real impact on reducing violence against women.”
The Future Policy Award is the only award which honours policies rather than
people on an international level. Honorable Mentions were bestowed on
The World Future Council will now work to globally raise awareness of the
winning model policies and assist policy-makers to develop and implement similar
initiatives. On 25 November 2014, the World Future Council, together with its
partners UN Women and IPU, will host an interactive panel discussion on the
preconditions of successful policy-making and implementation at UN Headquarters
in
More information on the award and the winning policies can be found in our brochure, which
can be downloaded in English, French and Spanish.
Future Policy Award
The Future Policy Award is designed to alert policymakers and the public to the
importance of best practice in lawmaking and highlight outstanding examples of
regulatory vision. The Award draws attention to existing sustainable policies
and demonstrates that when political will is asserted, positive change can
happen. Celebrating visionary policies raises public awareness, encourages
rapid learning and speeds up policy action towards just, sustainable and
peaceful societies. For more information, see www.worldfuturecouncil.org/future_policy_award.html
Previous Future Policy Award Topics:
2013: Disarmament
2012: Oceans and Coasts
2011: Forests
2010: Biodiversity
2009: Food Security
World Future Council
The World Future Council consists of 50 eminent global change-makers from
governments, parliaments, civil society, academia, the arts and business. We
work to pass on a healthy planet and just societies to our children and
grandchildren with a focus on identifying and spreading effective, future-just
policy solutions. The World Future Council was launched in 2007 by Jakob von
Uexkull, Founder of the 'Alternative Nobel Prize'. It operates as an independent
foundation under German law and finances its activities from donations. Find
out more at: http://www.worldfuturecouncil.org
Inter-Parliamentary Union
(IPU)
As the global organization of national parliaments, the
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) works to establish democracy, peace and
cooperation among peoples by uniting members to drive positive change. Its
focus on gender equality and in particular, women’s political participation, addresses a
key component of democracy. Since 2008, IPU has also been working with
parliaments to end
violence against women through advocacy
and awareness-raising activities and the introduction and implementation of
legislation to tackle the issue. Find out more at: http://www.ipu.org
United Nations Entity for
Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)
UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and
the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was
established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women
supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender
equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws,
policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. It
stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five
priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending
violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security
processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and making gender equality
central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women also
coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality.
__________________________________________________________________________