In coordination with the Cornell International Law Journal, the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice will bring together judges (from international tribunals and national courts), scholars, policymakers and practitioners to discuss advances and obstacles to securing justice for women and girls in conflict and post-conflict areas.

Women and girls are targeted for sexual and other gender-based violence during armed conflict and in the post-conflict context, when rule of law is characteristically weak, and aggression, societal breakdown and poverty are acute. Reports of mass rape, sexual crimes and gender discrimination around the world expose the insidious nature of gender-based violence in conflict and post-conflict zones, and underscore the timeliness and importance of this issue to international and national legal fora.

Confirmed speakers for the March 12, 2010 event include:

• Keynote Speaker, Rashida Manjoo, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
• Justice Joyce Aluoch, International Criminal Court
• Kelly Askin, Open Society Justice Initiative
• Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor, International Criminal Court
• Professor Anita Bernstein, Brooklyn Law School
• Sir Dennis Byron, President, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
• Dr. Ebby Elahi, Virtue Foundation
• Justice Shireen Fisher, Special Court for Sierra Leone
• Justice Elena Highton-Nolasco, Supreme Court, Argentina
• Joseph Kamara, Acting Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone
• Justice Florence Mumba, Chairperson, Electoral Commission of Zambia
• Professor Muna Ndulo, Cornell Law School; Director, Institute for African Development
• Professor Valerie Oosterveld, University of Western Ontario
• Hon. Barbara Rothstein, Western District Washington; Director, Federal Judicial Center
• Hon. Joanna Seybert, Eastern District of New York
• Judge Carolyn Temin, PA Court of Common Pleas; formerly of Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Justice Shiranee Tilakawardane, Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
• Patricia Viseur Sellers, Special Consultant to the United Nations
• Judge Weinberg de Roca, Argentina, U.N. Tribunal
• Judge Patricia Whalen, War Crimes Chamber, Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Hon. Ann C. Williams, U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
• Chief Justice Georgina Wood, Supreme Court, Ghana