[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]


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  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