[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 192 (Tuesday, October 5, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 54197-54198]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-26131]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 192 / Tuesday, October 5, 1999 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 54197]]
Proclamation 7230 of September 30, 1999
National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, 1999
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Most families provide a nurturing web of relationships
where children learn to love and respect others and
themselves and absorb the values that will shape them
as adults and citizens. But for millions of Americans,
family life has become a battlefield where women,
children, and sometimes the elderly become casualties.
The tragedy of domestic violence touches all our lives
by weakening families, leaving emotional scars as
devastating as physical ones, and creating a
destructive cycle of violence where those who were
abused as children may become abusers themselves.
My Administration has taken important steps to reduce
domestic violence by creating a system that punishes
offenders and provides victims with the information and
assistance they need to escape destructive family
environments. The cornerstone of this effort has been
the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which was part
of the historic Crime Bill I signed into law in 1994.
This landmark legislation combined tough new penalties
for offenders with funding for much-needed shelters,
counseling services, public education, and research to
help the victims of violence.
We also have established a toll-free National Domestic
Violence Hotline (1-800-799-SAFE) where staff responds
to as many as 10,000 calls each month; worked to raise
awareness in the workplace and among health care
providers about domestic violence; and more than
tripled resources for programs to combat violence
against women. To build on the success of the VAWA and
the Crime Bill, in May of this year I unveiled my
proposal for additional legislation--the 21st Century
Crime Bill--that will reauthorize the Violence Against
Women Act and toughen penalties for those who commit
violent crimes in the presence of children.
We have increased funding for State maternal and child
health programs that include child protection and
family preservation services. We have worked with the
Congress to pass legislation that strengthens law
enforcement, enhances child predator tracking and
protection mechanisms, and supports child abuse
prevention efforts in State and local jurisdictions.
And, at the end of last year, we launched the Children
Exposed to Violence Initiative (CEVI), designed in part
to reform Federal and State laws to provide swift and
certain punishment for those who commit child abuse and
neglect. CEVI will also strengthen local programs in
hopes of reducing the number of children who are
exposed to violence or become victims of violence
themselves; it will also encourage alliances that
include government as a partner with schools,
communities, parents, and other family members in an
effort to prevent child abuse.
We can take heart in our progress and at the outpouring
of concern and compassion we see for the victims of
domestic violence. Whether members of the law
enforcement community, health care professionals,
educators, religious and community leaders,
policymakers, or concerned private citizens, Americans
have united in the crusade against domestic violence.
With increased awareness, strengthened prevention, and
communities united in common cause, we are making the
reduction of domestic violence a reality and the dream
of ending it one day a possibility.
[[Page 54198]]
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, 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 October 1999 as National
Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I call upon
government officials, law enforcement agencies, health
professionals, educators, community leaders, and the
American people to join together to end the domestic
violence that threatens so many of our people.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-fourth.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 99-26131
Filed 10-4-99; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
