THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

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EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, January 25, 2014

WHITE HOUSE VIDEO MESSAGE: Preventing Rape and Sexual Assault

WASHINGTON, DC – In this week’s message, Director of the Domestic Policy Council Cecilia Muñoz discusses the renewed call to action to prevent rape and sexual assault.

The audio of the address and video of the message is available online HERE.

Remarks by Cecilia Munoz

Spanish Language Video Message

The White House

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Hi, everybody.  This week, the President called members of my Cabinet to the White House to deal with a challenge that affects so many families and communities – the crime, the outrage, of sexual violence.

Sexual assault is an affront to our basic decency and humanity.  And it’s about all of us – the safety of those we love most: our moms, our wives, our daughters and our sons.

15% of Hispanic women have been raped in their lifetimes.  Over the past four year, we’ve stepped up our efforts stop these crimes.  And this week, we took another important step to protect young women at college.  An estimated 1 in 5 women is sexually assaulted at college – and that’s totally unacceptable.So the President created the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.  We’re going to help schools do a better job of preventing and responding to sexual assault on their campuses.

And we’re going to keep working to stop sexual assaults wherever they occur.  We’ll keep strengthening our criminal justice system, so police and prosecutors have the tools and training to prevent these crimes and bring perpetrators to justice.  We’ll keep reaching out to survivors, to make sure they’re getting all the support they need to heal.  We’re going to keep combating sexual assault in our armed forces, because when a member of our military is attacked by the very people he or she trusts and serves with, that’s an injustice that no one who volunteers to protect our nation should ever endure.

Some of this is a job for government.  But really, it’s up to all of us.  We’ve got to teach young people – men and women – to be brave enough to stand up and help put an end to these crimes.  We’ve especially got to teach young men to show women the respect they deserve.

And perhaps most important, we need to keep saying to anyone out there who has ever been assaulted:  you are not alone.  We have your back.  The President has your back.

And the President is going to keep pushing for others to step up – across the Administration, in Congress, in state capitals and college campuses and military bases all across our country.  This is a priority for the President and also for me,but as a mother of two extraordinary girls.  And I hope it’s a priority for you.  Because here in the United States of America, every man and woman, every girl and boy, has the right to be safe and protected and to pursue their own piece of the American dream.

Let’s all do our part to make it happen.  Thanks, and have a great weekend.

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