[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 40 (Monday, October 6, 1997)]
[Pages 1475-1476]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7030--National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, 1997

October 1, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    In observing the month of October as National Domestic Violence 
Awareness Month, the American people reaffirm our commitment to prevent 
and eliminate violence against women. Domestic violence is not simply a 
private family matter--it is a matter affecting the entire community.
    Too many of America's homes have become places where women, 
children, and seniors suffer physical abuse and emotional trauma. 
Domestic violence is a leading cause of injury to women in our country, 
and it occurs among all racial, ethnic, religious, and economic groups. 
It is a particularly devastating form of abuse because it wears a 
familiar face: the face of a spouse, parent, or partner. This violence 
too often extends beyond the home and into the workplace.
    My Administration is committed to ending this violence and to 
protecting women in all aspects of their lives, whether in the home, in 
the community, or in the workplace. In 1994, I fought for passage of the 
Violence Against Women Act, which combined tough new penalties for 
offenders with funding for much-needed shelters, counseling services, 
public education, and research to help the victims of violence. The 
Federal penalties and prevention efforts included in this legislation 
have improved our ability to deter crimes of domestic violence.
    Early in my Administration, as outlined in the landmark Crime Bill, 
I established the Office of Violence Against Women in the Department of 
Justice to lead our comprehensive national effort to combine tough 
Federal laws with assistance to States and localities to fight domestic 
violence and other crimes against women. In February 1996, the

[[Page 1476]]

Department of Health and Human Services launched the 24-hour-a-day, 
toll-free National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-797-SAFE, so that 
those in trouble can find out how to get emergency help, find shelter, 
or report abuse. To date, the hotline has received more than 118,000 
calls from all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the 
U.S. Virgin Islands. We also initiated an Advisory Council on Violence 
Against Women to bring together experts in the field, including 
representatives from law enforcement, business, health and human 
services, and advocates, to focus national attention on successful, 
multifaceted solutions to combating violence and sexual assault.
    We cannot simply rest on past efforts. My Administration is 
continuing its work to prevent domestic violence and to care for 
survivors in their communities and workplaces. We are committed to 
strengthening the health care system's ability to screen, treat, 
prevent, and eliminate family violence by supporting training of health 
care providers and projects to assist those in the substance abuse field 
to address domestic violence. We are working to improve collaboration 
between human services providers, advocates, and the criminal justice 
community to enhance responses to domestic violence. The Department of 
Health and Human Services is sponsoring projects and programs to 
coordinate community responses to domestic violence, to focus on youth 
and children who witness violence, and to link child protection services 
with community providers who work with abused women and their children.
    Finally, as a further enhancement of my 1995 directive to all 
Federal departments and agencies to conduct employee awareness campaigns 
on domestic violence, the Office of Personnel Management is producing a 
guide to help agency representatives develop programs to prevent and 
respond to all types of workplace violence against Federal employees, 
including domestic violence. This guide, drafted by experts in the areas 
of mental health, investigations, law enforcement, threat assessment, 
and employee relations, will serve as a useful tool in providing step-
by-step information to identify, prevent, and respond to violence so 
that we can protect those in the Federal work force.
    I encourage the private sector to expand its role in preventing and 
eliminating domestic violence. We must also strengthen coordinated 
efforts between the public and private sectors to combat domestic 
violence in the home, the community, and the workplace. These efforts 
must ensure that no survivor of domestic violence lives in isolation and 
that the families of victims also have our support. No child should have 
to live in an abusive home. No woman should live in fear in her home, on 
the streets, or on the job. Only through a national commitment to this 
effort can we stop domestic violence and ensure that its survivors are 
safe.
    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 
1997 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 first day of 
October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., October 3, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
6.