Biden order makes sexual harassment in US military a crime

'Order honours memory of Vanessa Guillen whose death is catalysing national attention to scourge of sexual violence’

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday making sexual harassment a crime under the military justice code, in an attempt to relieve a long-term issue with which the Pentagon has struggled.

The move, called for in the 2022 National Defence Authorisation Act, the Pentagon's annual budget package, pays homage to Vanessa Guillen.

The 20-year-old army soldier was murdered by a fellow soldier in 2020 after being sexually harassed and telling her family she did not trust the military command to follow up on her complaint.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said the order "honours the memory of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen," whose death is "catalysing national attention to the scourge of sexual violence in our military and helping advance bipartisan military justice reform".

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Biden tweeted earlier in the day that he was "signing an Executive Order to make sexual harassment an offense in the Uniform Code of Military Justice."

Today, I signed an Executive Order to strengthen how our military justice system addresses several forms of gender-based violence — and added sexual harassment as an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, in honor of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillén. pic.twitter.com/7BJoWeBJoT

— President Biden (@POTUS) January 27, 2022

The order is also meant to "strengthen the military's response to domestic violence and the wrongful broadcast or distribution of intimate visual images," he said.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had previously appointed an independent commission to submit recommendations as to how best to deal with perpetrators of sexual violence in the armed forces, and how to prosecute them more effectively.

The commission concluded that removing decisions about prosecuting sexual assault from the military chain of command was the only solution.

Instead of incurring administrative sanctions as was previously the case, perpetrators may receive prison time.