Vital Voices partners Avon against women violence

Mumbai, Mar 15 : Non-governmental organization Vital Voices and The Avon Foundation for Women, a public charity organization, on Monday announced the The Global Partnership to End Violence Against women. It is a collaborative initiative with the U.S. State Department to combat the most destructive types of violence against women and help ensure justice for women and girls worldwide.

In response to the nearly one billion women worldwide who will be affected by violence in their lifetime, The Global Partnership will address the need for serious, sustained on the ground research and development, as well as actionable, collaborative, culturally-sensitive local solutions that can change these statistics in a measurable way, said an official statement.

Alyse Nelson, President of Vital Voices says the issue of violence against women has been ignored for too long.

"While one in three women will be the victim of abuse or violence at some point in their lives, not nearly enough attention has been given to this global crisis." she said.

"Around the world, services for victims are often vastly underfunded or unavailable and in many countries, laws to protect women do not exist or are not understood nor enforced.

"The economic cost of domestic violence, sexual violence and human trafficking together is estimated to be in the trillions of dollars. It's going to take real commitment and partnership within all countries to address their specific problems with culturally sensitive solutions that are truly sustainable over time," Nelson said.

To facilitate the Global Partnership, cosmetic major Avon and the Avon Foundation for Women announced USD 1.2 million in donations to Vital Voices to bring together 15 country delegations consisting of leaders from diverse sectors -business, government, law enforcement, the NGO community, media/entertainment, academia and others - in a first-of-its-kind global forum to share insights, forge collaborations, and seek ways to overcome challenging cultural realities that have been barriers to progress.

Vital Voices and the Avon Foundation for Women will also support these delegations when they return to their home countries with regional programs and a toolkit that can be used on a year-long basis as action plans are implemented.


Andrea Jung, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avon Products Inc., said: "It is more urgent than ever to confront this growing global challenge."

"With over six million Avon Representatives in more than 100 countries, Avon is the largest engine of economic opportunity for women on earth. We have seen first hand that when a woman is empowered economically, she can escape an abusive situation.

"Given our close personal connections with women, we feel it is our obligation and responsibility, and that we are uniquely suited, to be a committed partner in the search for innovative solutions that truly make a difference to ending the epidemic of violence against women in our lifetime," Jung said.

The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Women is founded on the premise that local experts are best suited to know what solutions will work in their own communities.

Cindy Dyer, Vital Voices' Senior Director for Human Rights said: "The hope is that by bringing delegates from around the world who are working on these issues in their countries and who understand the nuances of their unique communities, we'll be able to develop and implement more sustainable programs to protect victims and prevent violence and trafficking from occurring in the first place.

"The goal of The Global Partnership is to support these local teams with information, resources and funding. This will be an ongoing effort, local implementation supported by global collaboration and sharing of best practices as we work to create a safer world for women and girls."

As part of Avon's ongoing collaboration in support of this issue, Reese Witherspoon, the company's global ambassador and honorary chairperson of the Avon Foundation for Women, on Monday announced a new Avon fundraising product for 2010 -- the Women's Empowerment Ring -- that the company anticipates will raise significant funds to support local country initiatives to end violence against women.