Avon Global Center for Women
and Justice at Cornell Law School
At the March 2009 Global Forum for Women and Justice in Washington, D.C., the Avon Foundation for Women announced a $1.5 million grant to establish the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell University Law School. The Avon Center works with judges, legal professionals, and governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to improve access to justice in an effort to eliminate violence against women and girls.
Since its inception, the Avon Center has provided clinical research assistance for judges around the world. It has also produced pioneering analyses and studies, including the first comprehensive, comparative study of acid violence in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and India, with recommended actions for governments and businesses to help curb acid violence.
The Center also released a report in collaboration with the Women in Prison Project of the Correctional Association of New York on the barriers to justice for domestic violence survivor-defendants, as well as a study on sexual violence in Zambian schools. The Center has convened conferences on gender-based violence and access to justice in Southeast Asia and Washington, D.C.
Avon's Andrea Jung and Avon Foundation Honorary Chairman Reese Witherspoon announce a $1.5 million grant by the Avon Foundation for Women to launch the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School in 2009.
Reese Witherspoon and Andrea Jung speak at the Avon Foundation for Women press conference where new funding was announced for programs to eliminate violence against women and improve access to justice.
Barbara Holden Smith, Vice Dean of Cornell Law School; Andrea Jung; Reese Witherspoon; and Joan Winship at the Global Forum for Women and Justice.