Navy Region Singapore (NRS) kicked off Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month at its Cafe Lah Community Center as part of its month-long awareness campaign April 3.

This year, the theme established by the Department of Defense (DoD) Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO), is "Protecting Our People Protects Our Mission."

The day's event began with the signing of a proclamation and the Sexual Assault Prevention pledge by Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, Commander, Navy Region Singapore and Capt. Jeffrey Hutchinson, commanding officer, Navy Region Center Singapore. The proclamation and pledge signifies the region's ongoing dedication to the campaign.

The event also featured a "T-Line project," where participants designed their own T-shirt designs depicting messages and themes supporting the prevention of sexual harassment and sexual assault. The T-shirts will be hung on a clothesline on display in Cafe Lah for the entire month of April.

The highlight of the event featured an interactive drumming performance led by a representative of Human Rhythms, in which attendees drummed in harmony to foster unity and community connection.

For Gabrielson, this was a significant event for the region and its community members.

"This is about a 365-day commitment and rededication to preventing sexual assault," said Gabrielson. "We must build a foundation of awareness and culture of ownership that openly and clearly rejects destructive and degrading behavior and attitudes. Every one of us must be part of the solution."

Throughout the month of April, NRS is scheduled to continue raising awareness through several major events and activities. This includes a "No Excuses" campaign in which local leadership and community members are featured in posters and social media with their quotes addressing the prevention of sexual assault.

Another major event features Teal Tuesday where the community can come together at various events such as movie nights and free stress screenings with the goal of fostering an environment that addresses risk and protective factors for sexual assault.

This month, NRS will also highlight Denim Day, which is scheduled for April 26 across the world. According to the www.denimdayinfo.org website, Denim Day recognizes that there is never an invitation to rape. This movement was sparked by the Italian Supreme Court ruling where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt the victim was wearing tight jeans and that she must have helped her rapist remove them - thereby implying consent. For NRS leadership, this is an important event in the month-long campaign.

"Most of our events are stemming from the protective factors of emotional health and connectedness and empathy and concern about how one's actions affect others," said Tara Bennett, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Civilian Victim Advocate, Family Service Office, Navy Region Center Singapore. "Our goal is to move beyond traditional avenues used to address this topic and work to involve our community in building on protective factors to buffer against sexual violence."

For fiscal year 2015, the DoD's annual report states that there were 4,584 unrestricted reports and 1,499 restricted reports of sexual assault. However, according to Bennett, the 2014 RAND Military Workplace Study, an estimated 20,300 active-component service members were sexually assaulted in the year previous to the study. Unfortunately, both in the civilian and the military world, sexual assault is greatly under reported to law enforcement.

"Sexual assault prevent is a year round effort. Although we want to highlight this topic during the month of April, we hope to inspire our community to educate themselves and make active, positive changes to how we address sexual assault throughout the year," Bennett said. "We would like to arm people with knowledge and a different perspective on how to buffer against sexual assault."

For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Commander, Task Force 73, visit www.navy.mil/.