announcer: coming up on "21st century"... u.n. investigators seeking justice for victims of sexual violence. in the republic of korea, women preserve the ocean. and in the central african republic, a u.n. policewoman helps prevent sexual crimes. [ikhlas speaking g kurdish]

rabiaa el-garani: whwhat we received as a proof of evividen. we collect it a and we keepep it till one day a tribunal will be established. [knock on door] [women speaking kurdish] [salina speaeaking kurdish] [women speaking kurdish] [salina speakiking kurdish] michael blume: in august 2014 the so-called islamic state,

or da'esh, attacked the sinjar region in iraq, and they attacked esespecially the yazidi and christian minorities living there. when da'esh entered the villages and cities, they immediately began to separate people by their religion. and they had a plan to kill all the men, and the women and children, they were taken as slaaves. [i[ikhlas speaking kurdish] [ivana speaking kururdish]

[ikhlas spspeaking kurdish] michael: therere is a possibiliy in german law for a state to start a humanitarian admission program. and that's what we did. we decided to take in up to 1,000 women and children that sufferered traumatitizing violee from d da'eshh. but many of the women, , they wanted to have justice.e. they demanded to give testimony

of what has happened. i met rabiaa in 2014. i immediately recognized that it was very helpful that she was a woman, because many of the traumatized women would not be reready to talk to o men about t has happened. rabiaa: it's important when i interview survivors that they feel comfortable. not only is it important to speak the language but to understand the cultural aspect. how should we approroach survivors, how should we respect them, what should we take into consideration? [ikhlasas speaking g kurdish] [salina speaking kurdish] [ivana speaking kurdish] rabiaa: it helps also to be a

policewoman because you have the investigation experience and to know how to investigate, how to ask the right questions, which questions you should not ask, which direction you want to go when you hear theirir story, and what you want to collect. what we received as a proof of evidence, we collect itit and we keep it till one day a tribunal will be established. erin: i worked in san francisco police department and district attorney's office as an investigator for 11 years, and then i started doing work on the international criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia. and i did that for many years. at the time that i came onto the commission of inquiry for syria, you know, one of our first challenges is to find victims. the survivor of sesexul

violence in conflict may have not told anyone, just out of fear, of whether it's reprisal, of embarrassment, of stigma. it's sort of f an investitigatin withthin an investigation where you have to know the community and the culture. so maybybe it's not being reported, but t maybe you're learning that men and women have been separated in particular areas, or a spike in miscarrrriages, a spike inn attempted s suicides. all of the may be indicators.s. i went to za'atari camp and immediately went to speak to the different clinics and hospitals that were set up there, and i met dr. hala.

dr. hala was a great resource in learning about sexual violence, what others had experienced, what s she was seeing. dr. hala: i am hala, a syrian doctor.r. when i ststarted workn za'atari camp in n a clinic, of coururse i was the only fefee doctor at that clinic at that time. i i received a lot t of cs that wawas suffering from sexexl violalations. erin: what was incredibly important about meeting dr. hala was the medical evidence. that's the type of evidence that i know later holds up in court. [indistinct conversatition] dr. hala: therere is a lot of consequences for sexual violence. physical symptoms and signs like fractures, transmitted didiseases. alalso trauma for severaral parts of te body. but the most important consequences is the psychological one, because it

lasted for a long time andayaybe lead to suicides. so we have to do something as professionals, as a doctor, too document these cases, because it's not e enough just to providede services for e victim. also, you have to give them maybe hope that they can punish the perrpetrator one da to briring the justicece to ther lives, and that will keep the peaace in theieir communitity. erin: you are doingng great wor. dr. hala: ohh...[laughs] erin: i a am so happy that you'e here. berivan: i am berivan. i am 27 years old. i grgrew up in syria. i i studid english and linguistics.

also playaying and studying mus. in 2010 when the revolution started in damascus, most of us were thinking that even though we know that we might not win, but at least we just, we are trying, you know? it was at night when they came. i just saw men, like really like tall men with weweapons. and, yu know, they have masks. then they took me. firsrst day they were really aggressive. why you are not virgin? you are such a whore. like, you don't marry and you-- you know, like, for me it was really shame, you know, really harm, like, whyhy are you asking me t this? and there was like an imam m was just trying to o orit me to islslam and how to be good

woman. atat that titime i was really, r really scarared that y will marry me to a sheikh or like to a leader and then this will be the end. rabiaa: my fifirst impresession about berivivan was she was a vy ststrong activist in syryria, bt that shshe lost all the hope due to the war. berrivan: at that time, , actuay i lost my beliefef and my trustf international organizations. when i met t rabiaa, i thought, ok, she will bebe the same pers. they justst like want to do a report and then go, , you know? but, no, for me it was like a a little bit different. she was really, like, sensitive, really resspectful. and i rememember hr face when she was like talking with me. and she really have like this face of really she's

with me, you know, like, and it''s impmportant somomehow, lio feel l like some s support, yoyu know, to g get some supporort. eriin: so, onene day, in t the future, we e all hope that somee sort ofof court will be set u u. youu will haveve all these yearf the work that the cocommission f inquiry has done. all the interviews, all the information, the evidence that it has gathered to be used in such a such a court. phumzile e mlambo-ncguka: it's very i important that when we sd an expert to interview, we are able to send people who have the expertise that will stand up to scrutiny. so we choose these expertrts very carefully because we have to protect the integrity of the evevidence that they gatheher. and thihis is the e ee that we are able to use all the way from local to national to sometetimes the i internationonl courts, because, you knonow,

justice delayed is justice denied. [ikhlas speaking kurdish] [ivana speaking kurdish]

[kim ok-ja speaking korean] [laughing]

[whistling exhale sounds] [lee han-young speaking korean] tim curtis: the women divers of

jeju haenyeo, as they're known, um, really represent a great example of, uh, of intangible cultural heritage and why we're trying to safeguard thahat. the- first of all, their 500-year-old tradition of diving for women who practice really sustainable harvesting in the ocean. uh, but it's not just diving around. the diving is a whole belief system, ceremonies, rituals, prayers, links to the sea, an understanding of the sea and about women and their relationships. so it's really a kind of practice, lifestyle that brings together these many facets of the cultural life of a community. [lee han-young speaking k korea]

[kim ok-ja speaking korean]

[kang eun-ah speaking korean] [kim okok-ja speaking korean]

[kang eun-ah h speaking korean] [kim ok-jaja speaking korean] [kang eun-ahah speaking korean]

woman: bonjour, enfants. class: bonjour. [woman speaking inaudibly] [speaking french]

[indistinct greetings in french] [gladys ngwepekeum nkeh speaking french] ]qa@ ñ

(♪ dramac c musi)) ]qa@ ñ (fin sling throu water) - these are analals thatat c generere heat.