Presidential Document2024-00061
National Stalking Awareness Month, 2024
Primary source
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Published
January 4, 2024
Signed
December 29, 2023
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 3 (Thursday, January 4, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 3 (Thursday, January 4, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 447-448]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00061]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 3 / Thursday, January 4, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 447]]
Proclamation 10695 of December 29, 2023
National Stalking Awareness Month, 2024
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
During National Stalking Awareness Month, we honor the
strength and resilience of the millions of people
across this country who have endured stalking. We
reaffirm our commitment to building a future where
everyone can live free from fear, threats, and abuse.
Stalking at its core is an abuse of power. It affects
one in three women and one in six men in their
lifetimes. It can happen in person or online; it can be
committed by a stranger or someone you know. The fear
it sparks can be all-consuming, shattering one's sense
of security, safety, and certainty. It can threaten
loved ones and even force victims to uproot their lives
and move at a moment's notice. It is wrong.
One of my proudest achievements in life was writing and
championing the landmark Violence Against Women Act
some 30 years ago in the United States Senate. It began
to change our culture, bringing these crimes out of the
shadows and getting survivors the services and support
they needed. Over the years, I worked with courageous
advocates to keep expanding protections and boosting
access to healing and justice. In 2022, I was proud to
sign a reauthorization of the law, increasing
investment in prosecution, prevention, and support for
survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and
stalking. The new law also creates a Federal civil
cause of action for the non-consensual distribution of
intimate images and expands the jurisdiction of Tribal
courts to prosecute non-Native American perpetrators of
stalking, sexual assault, child abuse, and sex
trafficking.
At the same time, we are working to make sure our
response keeps pace with technology and protects all
Americans from online harassment and cybercrime. In
2022, I created the White House Task Force to Address
Online Harassment and Abuse to help stop technology-
facilitated gender-based violence. It aims to find new
ways to boost accountability, support survivors, and
further research the threat. Survivors, parents,
educators, advocates, medical and legal professionals,
and others have shared their expertise with the task
force, which will help inform their work.
This past May, I also released America's first-ever
National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, which
tackles the issue on seven fronts--prevention, healing,
housing, online safety, the justice system, crisis
response, and data. Since the beginning of my
Administration, the Department of Justice's Office on
Violence Against Women has provided grants to law
enforcement, prosecutors, courts, and community
organizations to work together to stop stalking and
other gender-based crimes. The Department of Housing
and Urban Development has provided tens of thousands of
emergency housing vouchers to help stalking victims and
others find a safe place to rebuild their lives.
Too often, stalking happens in the shadows, hidden from
the view of others. This month, we shine a harsh light
on these crimes to make clear that this kind of
harassment, threat, or unwanted aggressive attention
has no place in America. There is so much at stake.
Every American deserves to feel safe and protected,
have a little peace of mind, and live with dignity and
respect.
[[Page 448]]
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 2024
as National Stalking Awareness Month. I call on all
Americans to speak out against stalking and to support
the efforts of advocates, courts, service providers,
and law enforcement to help those who are targeted and
send the message to perpetrators that these crimes will
not go unpunished.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
eighth.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2024-00061
Filed 1-3-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 4, 2024.
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