Photo: Sergio Flores / Getty Images
For: EFE Updated 26 Jan 2022, 22: 12 pm EST
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) praised President Joe Biden for implementing the Vanessa Guillén Law , which requires classifying sexual harassment as crime in the Code of Military Justice of the United States.
An executive order signed by Biden this Wednesday also requires improve the response of the Armed Forces to complaints of domestic violence and the illegal distribution of intimate images of their soldiers.
This afternoon, I’m signing an Executive Order to make sexual harassment an offense in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and to strengthen the military’s response to domestic violence and the wrongful broadcast or distribution of intimate visual images.
—President Biden ( @POTUS) January 22, 2022
The CHC said that the executive order “honors the memory” of soldier Vanessa Guillén” because it creates “a safer environment in the Armed Forces ”.
Vanessa Guillén was a soldier in the Army of 12 years old, stationed at the garrison at Fort Hood, Texas, who was killed in April 2020 by fellow soldier Aaron Robinson.
His mutilated remains were found at the end of June of that year after complaints from the soldier’s family about the lack of action by her superiors when her disappearance was reported, and the complaints filed by Guillén herself.
An Army report indicated that officers at Fort Hood ignored her complaints of sexual harassment in the time leading up to the death of the Hispanic soldier.
Guillén’s family managed to convene a national movement that led to the Soy Vanessa Guillén Law, included in the National Defense Authorization Law of 2022, signed by Biden last December. The law requires that sexual harassment be established as a crime under the Code of Military Justice, a requirement that was satisfied with the order signed today by the president.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from Texas, said in a message that “bold action is needed to address the scourge of sexual misconduct crimes in our Military.”
When thanking Biden, the congresswoman added that the executive order is a big step for the family of Vanessa Guillén and other victims.
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