[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 5, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 20371-20372]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07313]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 88 , No. 65 / Wednesday, April 5, 2023 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 20371]]


                Proclamation 10545 of March 31, 2023

                
National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention 
                Month, 2023

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Freedom from sexual assault is a basic human right. Yet 
                tens of millions of Americans--our family and friends, 
                colleagues, neighbors, and classmates--carry the trauma 
                of sexual assault with them. National Sexual Assault 
                Awareness and Prevention Month is an important time to 
                speak out, stand with courageous survivors, and finally 
                change the culture that has allowed sexual violence to 
                exist for far too long.

                Sexual violence affects all people, regardless of 
                geography, race, age, ethnicity, gender, religion, 
                sexual orientation, gender identity, or economic 
                background. One in four women and 1 in 26 men have 
                survived a rape or attempted rape. Abuse can happen 
                anywhere--at work, at home, at school, in other public 
                places, or online. It can lead to depression, anxiety, 
                PTSD, and other physical and emotional wounds. We must 
                keep fighting to make clear how important consent is 
                and how sexual assault can be a crime. And we must help 
                survivors access safety, justice, and healing.

                That is why I wrote the landmark Violence Against Women 
                Act (VAWA) 30 years ago, at a time when domestic 
                violence and sexual assault were often swept under the 
                rug. We changed that. VAWA has given us tools to 
                prevent and prosecute sexual assault and provide 
                support for survivors. It has helped to save and 
                rebuild so many lives, and I have never quit working to 
                strengthen the law, including expanding protections 
                when VAWA was reauthorized in 2000, 2005, 2013, and 
                most recently in 2022. These efforts have expanded 
                support for survivors, especially for people of color, 
                members of the LGBTQI+ community, and immigrants, and 
                have broadened protections to cover online abuse, such 
                as the non-consensual distribution of intimate images. 
                We increased VAWA funding this past year by 20 percent 
                to a historic $700 million for 2023.

                Today, we are doing more to help survivors in 
                underserved communities and rural areas. We are working 
                to reduce the backlog of untested rape kits as many 
                survivors continue to wait for justice. We are 
                improving trauma-informed training for law enforcement 
                and making sure that adult survivors of child sexual 
                abuse can get help, including legal help and support 
                for healing. And we have ensured that Tribal courts 
                have jurisdiction over non-Native perpetrators 
                suspected of committing crimes of sexual assault, sex 
                trafficking, and child abuse on Tribal lands. 
                Additionally, through the American Rescue Plan, we have 
                delivered $1 billion in additional funding for rape 
                crisis centers, culturally specific community support 
                organizations, and other domestic violence and sexual 
                assault services nationwide.

                We have also reformed how the military investigates and 
                prosecutes sexual assault, sexual harassment, and 
                related crimes, including by shifting authority from 
                commanders to independent prosecutors. I issued an 
                Executive Order listing sexual harassment and the 
                wrongful distribution of intimate images as offenses 
                under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

[[Page 20372]]

                I launched a Federal task force to tackle the rise in 
                online sexual harassment and abuse, recommending 
                concrete steps for prevention, accountability, 
                research, and support for survivors. And I signed laws 
                ending forced arbitration and limiting the enforcement 
                of non-disclosure agreements to ensure people who have 
                experienced sexual assault and sexual harassment in the 
                workplace can pursue justice.

                While we have made progress addressing sexual violence 
                over the years, there is still much work to do. As 
                President, I have expanded funding for campus 
                prevention efforts, building on the work I did as Vice 
                President when we launched ``It's On Us''. I signed an 
                Executive Order calling on the Department of Education 
                to protect students from discrimination based on sex, 
                including sex-based harassment and sexual violence. And 
                I will continue to fight tirelessly to realize the 
                promise of Title IX, which requires institutions to 
                prevent and address sexual violence and harassment. I 
                have called on young men in particular to speak up and 
                stand against abuse--because the real test of character 
                is having the guts to do the right thing. And I have 
                been awed by the courage of countless survivors in 
                every part of the country who have come forward to push 
                for justice and have inspired many others to do the 
                same. It is on us all to stand with them.

                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 2023 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 
                thirty-first day of March, 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-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2023-07313
Filed 4-4-23; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P