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Domestic Violence Awareness, A Stamp Forever

Press Release
09/29/2022

Domestic Violence Awareness, A Stamp Forever

As a Domestic Violence activist, having volunteered time over 10+ yrs helping victims of domestic violence  and October being Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a proposal was re submitted  for issuance of an USPS Domestic Violence Awareness Forever Stamp, marking 30th Ann. of Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 2024 by Miss Kumu Gupta. A similar proposal was re submitted to the U.N. Postal Administration as well by Miss Gupta.

VAWA The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) was first introduced the law in 1990, by then Senator Joseph Biden, when domestic violence was considered a family matter and few in Congress wanted to work on the issue. Over the next three years, then-Senator Biden used his role on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to hear directly from survivors, during hours of testimony,about their experiences with domestic violence and sexual assault and from experts armed with reports and data. VAWA is a United States federal law (Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, H.R. 3355) signed by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. The Act provided $1.6 billion toward investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress when prosecutors chose to not prosecute cases. The Act also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the U.S. Department of Justice. 

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men. On a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide. And only 34% of people who are injured by intimate partners receive medical care for their injuries. Not to mention, 1 in 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence each year, and 90% of these children are eyewitnesses to this violence. According to one article in the Harvard Gazette, Violence against women increased to record levels around the world following lockdowns to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The United Nations called the situation a “shadow pandemic” in a 2021 report about domestic violence in 13 nations in Africa, Asia, South America, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans. In the United States, the American Journal of Emergency Medicine reported alarming trends in U.S. domestic violence, and the National Domestic Violence Hotline (The Hotline) received more than 74,000 calls, chats, and texts in February, the highest monthly contact volume of its 25-year history. Domestic Violence is not just physical but emotional, psychological and financial.

" It's very important , an imperative that this heinous crime against any member of society be highlighted in our daily lives and having a postal stamp so people are reminded of this every time they mail a letter , what the glaring statistics are and awareness will lead to education, reduction &, increased help for the victims. A postal stamp cuts across barriers of race, ethnicity, gender and country and is impactful not just in US but when that letter or any mailing with a Forever Domestic Violence
Awareness Stamp reaches its destination in other countries, it raises awareness the world over forever ".......Kumu Gupta.

 * Kumu Gupta was earlier nominated for President's Citizens Medal (white house)  for her years of activism in helping victims of domestic violence both in US and abroad. Kumu is recipient of  Governor’s and Norfolk County D.A. 's citations for her work and had  honorary appointments to Mayor’s Commission’s on Women & Human Rights as well as Congressman Keating's Women’s Advisory Board where she served 8 years volunteering helping women in distress.



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