New York - Award winning American actress Reese Witherspoon launched Tuesday a 1-million-dollar campaign, backed by Avon Products, to fight violence against women around the world. The amount was donated to a trust fund of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to promote women's empowerment and end violence against women, one of the UN goals that need private funding to implement programmes.
Witherspoon, chosen by UNIFEM to represent its programmes worldwide, said the trust fund will issue bracelets, sold at three dollars each, as a symbol for ending violence against women. Avon Products will match the first 500,000 dollars in bracelet sales for a total of 1 million dollars.
"One out of every three women in the world is affected by domestic violence," Witherspoon said in a press conference at UN headquarters to launch the campaign. "I am proud to be a part of this summit and I support Avon and UNIFEM wholeheartedly in their efforts to put an end to this global epidemic."
Andrea Jung, chairman and CEO of Avon Products, said her company, which sells almost half of its cosmetic products to Latin America, has been involved in advancing the causes of women for decades.
