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“NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H8447 on Oct. 7, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 21, 1997, the gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, in North Carolina we are pausing this week to draw attention to the need to focus greater efforts on the problem of domestic violence, and this is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Just as we are confronted with the blight of hunger in America, we are faced with the blight of domestic violence, a public and personal health problem. Imagine the incidence of domestic violence in the world if indeed that is the situation that we face in America, that in America some 4 million women are battered every year, every year, one woman every 13 seconds.
It is for that reason the United Nations 4th Conference on Women held in Beijing, China, in September 1995, directly addressed this issue. Violence against women is an obstacle to equality, development, and peace. That was one of the conclusions of the conference.
Another conclusion, violence against women violates both their human rights and their fundamental freedom. Among several other actions to be taken, the conference urged that we condemn violence against women and refrain from invoking any custom, tradition, or religious consideration to avoid our obligation with respect to its elimination.
Being passive in this vital effort is not enough. Merely making the statement that one does not commit domestic violence does not go far enough in solving the problem. We must be proactive. If I may borrow from a well-worn phrase from several decades ago, if you are not part of the solution, you are said to be part of the problem.
Violence against women occurs in nearly every daily area of our lives. Women are assaulted on the street, at workplaces, in schools and campuses. But it has been the hidden violence in the home at times in our Nation that is particularly difficult. It is the hushed tone, it is not acceptable, it is not talked about. But it is now gaining serious and sensible community-wide attention, as it should be.
Today most States now enact some form of domestic violence legislation and the public has now come to understand that it is a problem. As part of the crime bill, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act. The President created within the Department of Justice the Violence Against Women Office. Significant funding has been directed toward this problem under the Violence Against Women Act.
Still attitudes are slow to change, and much more needs to be done. Victims of domestic violence continue to face an unacceptable gap in legal representation when required to make appearances in key proceedings affecting their personal safety and the safety of their families.
Domestic violence remains a strong risk factor for female homicide. More women are murdered by their husband or their boyfriends than half of them murdered by strangers. Poor women are still far more likely to be victims of domestic violence than other women, and domestic violence endures as the leading cause of injury to women. More women are indeed harmed by domestic violence than all combined, street accidents, automobile accidents, or assault by strangers. More of their friends harm them and their loved ones than strangers do.
The problem of domestic violence also affects rural areas as well as urban areas. Women of all races, social, religious, ethnic, economic groups, all ages are affected by domestic violence.
Once domestic violence occurs, it reoccurs, and often times it escalates. This week and this month will only have meaning if each of us makes a new commitment to take a firm stand and to understand to do something, no matter how small, to help bring an end to the spread of domestic violence.
Changes begin with awareness, but it happens with action. Condemn violence against women and refrain from invoking any custom, tradition, or religious consideration to avoid our obligation with respect to its elimination. On this issue, each of us can be a part of the solution.
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