Presidential Document2024-07193
National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, 2024
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
April 3, 2024
Signed
March 29, 2024
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 65 (Wednesday, April 3, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 3, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 22891-22892]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07193]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89 , No. 65 / Wednesday, April 3, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 22891]]
Proclamation 10720 of March 29, 2024
National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention
Month, 2024
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Sexual violence affects every community in this Nation,
leaving millions of Americans--our neighbors, friends,
colleagues, and loved ones--scarred. For many
survivors, healing can take years, and for some, the
pain never heals completely. During National Sexual
Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, we recommit to
standing with survivors, holding perpetrators
accountable, and bringing an end to a culture that has
allowed sexual assault to occur for far too long.
More than half of all women and nearly one-third of all
men in America have experienced sexual violence. The
rate of sexual violence is even higher for people of
color. Survivors have faced this violence wherever life
happens--at work, at school, at home, and online. It
can upend people's jobs and contribute to mental health
issues like depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic
stress disorder. It is an insult to our most basic
humanity and everything we stand for as a Nation.
Ending gender-based violence has been the cause of my
life. Thirty years ago, as a United States Senator, I
wrote and championed the original Violence Against
Women Act (VAWA). This law gave us the tools to prevent
and prosecute sexual assault, provide support for
survivors, and save lives. Every time we have re-
authorized it, we have made it stronger. In December
2022, we secured $700 million for VAWA programs--the
highest funding level in history--for the next fiscal
year. Those funds have helped strengthen the public
health response for domestic violence and sexual
assault survivors and their children, and expand access
to sexual assault medical forensic examinations and
culturally specific resources for LGBTQI+ survivors,
rural areas, and other underserved and marginalized
communities. The reauthorization also established a new
offense for Federal law enforcement officers who commit
sexual misconduct under color of law and expanded
Tribal jurisdiction so that non-Native perpetrators of
sexual assault can be prosecuted for crimes they commit
on Tribal lands.
My Administration has made ending gender-based violence
a top priority in many other ways too. Our American
Rescue Plan delivered $1 billion in funding for rape
crisis centers, community support organizations, and
other sexual violence services nationwide. We released
the first-ever National Plan to End Gender-Based
Violence, advancing a comprehensive Government-wide
approach to preventing and addressing gender-based
violence across the country. When we passed the most
significant gun law in nearly 30 years, we narrowed the
so-called ``boyfriend loophole,'' keeping guns out of
the hands of domestic abusers. To combat online
harassment and abuse, I worked with Vice President
Kamala Harris to launch a Federal task force that has
taken concrete steps on prevention, accountability,
research, and support for survivors and launched the
first 24/7 national helpline for survivors of image-
based sexual abuse.
We are also ensuring people are safe from abuse at
school and work. I signed an Executive Order that
called on the Department of Education to
[[Page 22892]]
protect students from discrimination based on sex,
including sex-based harassment and sexual violence, and
I remain steadfast in my commitment to ensuring all
students have an educational environment free from
discrimination. I have also signed laws limiting the
enforcement of non-disclosure agreements for those who
have been sexually assaulted or harassed in the
workplace and ending forced arbitration so that
survivors can get their day in court. Additionally, I
have asked that Federal agencies take action to make
leave more accessible for employees seeking safety and
recovering from gender-based violence. Furthermore, I
have spearheaded historic military justice reforms to
better protect survivors in our military and ensure
that prosecutorial decisions in cases of gender-based
violence are fully independent from the chain of
command.
This National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention
Month, let us each recommit to stepping up and doing
our part to intervene in, prevent, and end sexual
assault in our communities. Let us redouble our efforts
to support and stand with survivors of sexual assault.
Let us pledge to work together to create a society that
is truly safe, where all Americans can pursue their
dreams without fear of assault, abuse, or harassment.
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 laws of
the United States, do hereby proclaim April 2024 as
National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
I urge all Americans to support sexual assault
survivors, including when survivors reach out and
disclose abuse, and to strengthen our efforts to
prevent this abuse in the first place.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
eighth.
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(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2024-07193
Filed 4-2-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
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