a former associate director of fbi. a plaque no now marks the spot. "inside story" is next, and a reminder you can check us out 24 hours a day by going to www.aljazeera.com. . >> mick up the paper, watch the news, there is probably another shocking story demonstrating that the lives of women are cheap. when will they change that picture? that's the inside story. >> hello, i'm ray suarez.

retelling the stories would take days. the horrifying crimes against women seem to know no limit of ghastliness and degradation. men kidnapping women, raping them so they have to marry their rapists. killing family members who reject an arranged marriage. gang raping women with no punishment. leaders saying publicly boys will be boys. as i read these stories i'm always trying to figure some things out. is what is new that i know about in the first place? why aren't crimes against women and girls unthinkable? could you imagine widespread cruelty and oppression going on like this against men and then being met with such a shrug. when a guy in a suit and tie shakes his head, scold this is criminality, do many people dismiss it as another lecture from the rich to the poor, from the privileged to the struggling.

can you really hide ? >> not even military situations like the u.s. have been able to rescue them. >> it does not like anything has happened since the abduction of the girls. it seems that things are getting worse. >> we are boko haram. >> reporter: they boasted that the republic of nigeria is powerless against them and they would sell the girls on the open market. it's an awful story and a tragedy if these young women are never returned to their families. their plight resonates around the world. the truth is things like this and much worse are happening to women and girls across the globe every single day from war zones where families are trapped by conflict as in the democratic

republic of the congo. to india where authorities say a woman is raped every 22 minutes. and despite tales of horrific crimes the country's norms, cultures and attitudes toward women instead fuel the problem. last month another headline grabbing crime. two teenage girls were found hanging dead from a tree in a village after being raped. their families say the police were slow in investigating the crime since the girls were from a lower caste. the story took an even uglier turn when a politician said rapes like this happen accidently. today india's new prime minister said he is wrong. >> respect for women, their security, it should be the priority for all 1.2 billion people. >> egypt has long been dealing with the problem of sexual harassment. an u.n. survey from 2013

reported 99% of women in egypt had experienced some form of harassment. most of which was unwanted touching followed closely by verbal assault. often it happens in public on the street as people go about their daily lives. even the celebration of a newly elected president was tarnished by violence. there were multiple reports of sexual assault by women in cairo. a young woman was violently assaulted bay mob. the act caught on videotape in tahrir square where she was found stripped naked and bloody. the president called for the implementation of a new law that criminalized sexual harassment. it would be the first law of its kind and aggressor could face six months in jail and a heavy fine. this week in london the

worldwide gathering of ngos, delegates from 136 countries seek to raise awareness of sexual violence against women and move to act. it was co-shared by william haguwilliam hague and angelina jolieer, envoy for commission of refugee. >> it's a myth that rape is an inevitable part of conflict. it is a weapon of war aimed at civilians. it has nothing to do with sex. everything to do with power. >> in the run up to the summit 150 governments endorsed a declaration pledge to go end sexual violence in war zones. the goal is to document crimes and bring more prosecutions. can declarations work? nigeria is one government that signed the declaration but hundreds of girls kidnapped by boko haram have not been saved. here in the united states the

international violence against women act is pending in both houses of congress. it seeks to make the issue a higher diplomatic priority for the u.s. similar legislative efforts dating back to 2007 have failed. the united states says one in three women worldwide will be beaten, coerced into section or abused by an intimate partner during her lifetime. armed with these statistics. advocates meet in london to tackle the problem. is there moral authority the world can muster to overturn a culture of violence against women? >> now let's be clear. violence and oppression, impunity and killing claims men and women as victims. but so many of these ongoing crimes simply take a higher toll or aim particularly at women. what social conditions prevail that allows people insist that

they treasure women and girls and then subject them to horror and cruelty? an international meeting as we heard is underway in london shining a spotlight on the use of rape as a weapon of war. we'll look at that and other aspects of this problem this time during inside story. joining us amber khan of women for women international. from london, bridget ender from the office of the prosecutor of international court. and rito sharma founder and president of women thrive worldwide. the title of your organization, women thrive worldwide. it's like a hope, an it's aspiration. >> that is the goal. that's what we want. i think the summit in london is a helpful step in that direction. no question. but one of the things that i think you noticed even from the opening piece is that women and

girls are starting to take this into their own hands. they are taking it to the streets. they are saying enough is enough. they're pushing their politicians to do something. they're learning how to protect themselves from violence. and it's that grassroots action that i think is going to create the change that we need on this issue. >> amber khan, nobody would co come on this program, no one would be invited, nobody that we called. nobody that we nagged for a week would ca come on this program and say well, this is okay. this is the way it is. no one would justify it. yet it continues decade after decade. why is that? >> you answered that question in some ways. the political will, the desire for global action is taking place, you know, now. we see this focus. in part, i don't think its accidental that this is coming

into our focus after high profile incidents, in where women are not only abused, manipulated but exposing the breakdown of systems and institutions. the challenge that a lot of leadership face is that this is a multi -prong problem. violence against women, we hear one in three is the world bank study recently affirmed a couple of weeks before the summit, we're really seeing new numbers. it was a profound remind that are this cuts across class, culture, religion. this attitude about how we value women and invest in women to prevent violence is actionable. the report showed that you are protected more when you're educated as a woman. when you have access to safety networks and to other women, and you know your rights. when you are able to be employed and have formal education and earn an income to support yourself.

you know, when we talk about access to healthcare and immunization and rape prevention kits and h.i.v. testing, we know that addressing violence against women and the condition and challenges that women are facing has a lot--it's complicated. it has a lot of things that we can do. so why are folks not saying i've got the answer? because the answer is not just one thing. it requires many different forms of engagement. it's what brought women for women into being. it's the profound horror and trauma that we witnessed from the bosnian war in which we saw the women survivors left alone. they didn't have an infrastructure. these are socially excluded, marginalized women. what we've learned is we need to be engaged and provide a veto of things to stimulate action and engagement. >> bridget ender are there places in the world where if a

woman is victimized she can have a reasonable confidence that the police won't arrest her attacker. local prosecutors might not take the case seriously even if there is a trial that person may not be punished. >> well, i think in most countries of the world what you've just described as the norm. i think by pursuing investigations and prosecutions for rape and sexual violence in every country is tremendously difficult. we know in countries, peaceful countries, countries with sophisticated no, sircies that even in those situations rape is under reported because women don't have confidence in the justice process to provide the kind of accountability that they seek, and also because of the stigma associated with this type of crime. i think that's the norm. i think that the exception is what the global summit in london which i'm attending is trying to do, to end the culture of immunity for sexual violence

particularly in relation to sexual violence and conflicts. it's seeking to support the victim survivors in the process. and seeking to change attitudes both attitudes and relation to the tolerance levels around sexual violence and attitudes towards women and male victims of sexual violence. lastly i think it's seeking to strengthen--to take practical steps to strengthen accountability and prosecutions. once we start to see effective justice process and prosecutions over time and attitudes it will have a deterrent affect. >> we're going to take a short break. when we come back we'll talk about social sanction whether there is enough outrage in many of these societies we're talking about to force a response. to force a new paradigm in society and an idea that you just can't get away with this

stuff any more. this is inside story. stay with us.

>> you're watching inside story. on al jazeera america. i'm ray suarez. on this edition of the program why do some societies allow, ignore, and condone continuing violence against women and girls? what makes it possible, allowable. imaginable for a man in pakistan or cambodia to get his hands on a bottle of acid and throw it in his wife's face, or in the face of a woman who spurned his advances? bridget ender, is there a gap in what they would like to do in enforcement and procuring impunity, and what they're really ready to do inside these countries? >> well, i think that's right. i think that's accurate. one of the things that the summit is trying to do is close the commitment gap.

one of the things that members attending the summit have been invited to do is make commitments, actions that they're prepared to take over the next year, and three and five years in whatever ways they can to support the end of the sexual violence. i think the political will is unreliable and has been inconsistent on this issue. i think what the u.k. government has shown and demonstrated is by bringing together 1500 delegates and 125 countries are represented, the resources are not really the problem, and i think this summit will help galvanize a different type of will. it is beyond talk now. it really is what do we need to do given the tools we have, and in particular give the existence of the international court

. >> right now in towns and villages across the world including in north america there are women who routinely see their attackers and know they won't be punished. there are women who live in family groupings where their family members have abused them terribly. their neighbors won't say anything. the people they work with won't say anything. i'm trying to understand how a neighborhood, a clan, a community could allow this to go on, could dismiss it as a terrible part of custom, but there it is. there is nothing i, me, personally i can do about it. >> the truth is the men in that culture, in that family unit are getting something out of it. they have access to sex or the feeling of power, authority or whatever it is that they need from perpetrating that abuse. what has happened, i can speak

about my own culture from india that boys are brought up from a very young age and taught in so many different ways that they are better than girls. they get better toys. they get more food. they get to go to school. girls don't. as they go into adolescence they begin to see their peers, their fathers, others, groping, touching women in public, that's what they learn. so in many ways subtle and not so subtle these men have internalized the message that i am--i can take what i want from a woman when i want it. it doesn't matter her age. it doesn't matter if she's my wife or not. and there is--there is no repercussions for me. the interesting thing, though, much of the research done and the polling that's done very sensitively but is done with women shows that in some countries 80% to 90% of women feel that there are certain circumstances under which their

husband has the right to beat them. >> that's actually a great poi point, ritu. the expectation that there is justified violence. it is something in our programs, i'm going to share with you, women for women work directly with women. we go around the institutions and directly support on the ground in the country in eight countries that are conflict impacted many of the women have less education, and making less than a dollar a day. you know when they came back and learned that they could assert their rights. they came back and said you need to take this message to our husbands and to the male leaders in the community. >> look at all the different fronts on which we've had this conversation and a lot of countries say yes, we're getting religious, education, raising

the average number of years the women and girls of a whole country complete in school. access to capital. all these different things. we've had these conversations. we're good at it. we've had it for a long time. but you say no, we have to change everything much more than that, so that no one will hear because in a lot of developing world all the windows are open, no one will hear their next-door neighbor being spanked or beaten and saying, well-- >> we're hearing stories of people pushing back. two stories from nigeria, one, a group of women who were coming together, they financed the support. they learned this information, and in that comfort zone one of the women in the program shares in her class that she's being regularly beaten by her husband. and it's causing depression, anxiety. she has lost hope. she does not see a future. the women in that program--these are 25 women, they go with her to her husband's house, to the community. they circle her house.

they knock on the door and they say don't beat her. beat us. and it changed his behavior. it changed, and it sent a message in the community. so absolutely we need these conferences. we need these global leadership . we need political will. but on the ground the most marginalized women are standing up and together asserting their rights and expressing their resistence and demanding that they not be treated this way. i have mores like that more stories like that. that gives me hope that things are changing. >> when we come back we'll talk about the furor an future, and what it holds for women around the world. life gets better for a lot of people in a lot of places. is economics part of this conversation? this is inside story. véay to yo.

al jazeera america, take a new look at news. >> welcome back.

i'm ray suarez. we're looking at the daily toll of violence against women and girls on this program. it's not that it's condoned. it's not that it's endorsed, not explicitly anyway. what we're trying to understand in what could be an universal understanding of the valley of the lives of women and girls. and i asked about that universality because electronics and communications have made one part of culture popular culture universal in a way that's pretty astounding. >> mm-hmm. >> how come that kind of culture travels easily? dress, food, music, and so on, but this other thing seems much more deeply embedded and harder to root out? >> i think that has to do with influencers. we know in pop culture who carries what and who is singing what and who wears what matters. as part of this week's conference is bringing and creating a space for individuals

who are in leadership positions, but it's not just happening in london. what we see is that when you have leaders, you don't have to be on the cover of a magazine to have influence, ray. what we find in our programs, when we do men's engagement, we do it in nigeria, iraq, afghanistan. when the male leaders are educated, engaged and understand the problem and being held to account for it. but in a way that turns them into as part of the situation. part of the challenge is when you are engage men to be part of the solution, to recognize the high cost of holding women back, preventing her from being able to earn an income to be able to contribute to the family's wealth or support the children we see documented evidence-driven facts. works . >> brigid, all the rules for a

time are thrown out the window. the things that bind people together in communities, streets and towns are for seemingly not in force, and it's in this chaos that we often see rape being used as a mass weapon. >> yes, that's right. i mean, there will have been a pre-existence of rape and sexual violence in the community. but during times of conflict it--the form of violence becomes more exaggerated, brutal and more numerous. i appreciate the last comment from one of the other speakers. for my own organization we are an aware also of the kind of work that women leaders are doing in grassroots communities particularly in conflict situations, and the call for justice and accountability, and also their leadership. their drafting of new legislation. their efficacy of leaders, they're initiating transit

houses, support houses for victim survivors. they're claiming a voice in this. you touched earlier of livelihood is very real. victim survivors are calling for access of livelihood and other forms of assistance to rebuild their lives, to support their community to be able to be reconstructive really if it's a long-term conflict such as in northern uganda. i think the scale of sexual violence is what becomes so shocking, but also so familiar. one of the things that is odd about rape and sexual violence in conflict is that it is such a daily experience, and yet accountability and responsibility for it is so exceptional. i think that's about a balance we want to reverse. >> before we go i want to talk to you about what role economics plays in this. a lot of men who are doing this, this is the only part of their life that they feel empowered

in, rightly or wrongly, they're often degraded because of the economic circumstances they live. >> i think that's often the case, but i don't think we want to confuse the issue by saying that rape doesn't happen in the higher income population. there is no question, but in times of stress, economic or otherwise, this is going to increase. and certainly economics is part of the solution. we know that when women have money not only do their children get educated and healthy, but they are protective of them and they have the independence to leave. they can leave a situation. one of the things that we're looking for and i believe amber is talking about as well is holistic solutions where we want to have that public education. we need the economic opportunity. we need the communication. we got to work with the men. one last thing i think is really important for people to understand.

these are really low-cost solutions. at a community level we're talking about $15,000 to get a an enormous amount done. it works and it's cheap. >> for less than $300 you can sponsor a woman to give her a year-long training, to get her skills to go on her vocational track. that's powerful. >> that brings us to this edition of inside story. thanks for being with us. in washington, i'm ray suarez.

>> the united states says it's considering airstrikes in iraq to help the government put down a you sunn sunni rebellion. hello, you're with al jazeera live in doha. al-shabaab fighters sa are claimed to have killed dozens of people. no ga cash, no gas. moscow cuts off gas to ukraine.