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♪ host: welcome to "global 3000." this week, we meet kazakh families desperate to track down relatives detained in chinese "re-education" camps. in india, employment opportunities are helping women break out of traditional roles in a male-dominated society. but first, we head to sierra leone, where domestic violence is still common. now some innovative schools are teaching men about gender equality. ♪ host: according to a u.n. study, in 2017, around 50,000 women worldwide were killed at the hands of intimate partners or family members. that's an average of 137 women now some innovative schools are every day, and those are only the reported cases. it's likely many more such murders are recorded as suicides or accidents. globally, one in three women have experienced sexual or other forms of physical violence. more than half of all countries have laws against domestic abuse. but in many places, such

brutality has a long tradition. in sierra leone, the problem is being tackled through education. >> i used to hit my wife. i would come home late and bang on the locked door. alimatu: we never sat together and talked. there was no peace between us. hawa: time and time again, he beat me, for no apparent reason. just because. reporter: once taboo, talking openly about domestic violence has become commonplace in yambama lugbu ever since male villagers were sent back to school. almost all of the husbands here regularly battered their wives, just like amara swaray kebby. for many families, life was hell.

amara: i grew up with my uncle. and i saw how he beat his wife. so i copied that behavior. and as an adult, i did the same to my wife. reporter: nowadays, amara treats his wife with respect. he helps with the housework and accompanies her to the doctor, things he never would have dreamt of doing before. instead, he regularly got drunk, spent time with a girlfriend, and beat his wife. alimatu: i lived in fear and i cried a lot. i couldn't leave him because i didn't want my children to suffer. he treated me so poorly and had a mistress.

reporter: amara and the others attend "husband school" twice a month. discussions can get heated when teachers like phatmata, a nurse, educate students on the this city of changing their behavior, one that is deeply rooted in sierra leone's male-dominated society. a man is the head of the family. he's the bread-winnner and has all the rights. many see violence against women as a fact of life. and poverty makes the situation worse. phatmata: sometimes if men can't bring home any money, then the women ask about food. if the women don't let up after that, then the men get even angrier. reporter: musa also didn't have any money or a job and beat his wife. now at "husband school," he learns about gender equality and that his wife is his partner, not his property.

musa: i drank and smoked and then, i would let my frustrations out on her. if i came home late, and my wife was there, i would kick at the door. and if she asked questions, i would hit her. reporter: musa and his wife hawa are carrying water home together. it looks harmonious, but hawa reamins traumatized by the experience of abuse. musa has been helping out at home ever since he joined the "husband school." still, hawa is wary. her memories run deep. hawa: when he started beating me, i just used to hide. but then it got so bad that i had to leave for a year. now things have got better. he doesn't beat me anymore, and the children can finally attend school. but he still gets in a bad mood and is threatening when he

doesn't have money. reporter: gender-based violence isn't confined to husbands beating their partners. every year, thousands of women in sierra leone fall victim to sexual exploitation. 14-year-old hawa sought help at a women's healthcare center in the capital, freetown. she was sexually exploited by a man known to her family. now, she's pregnant. >> there's not enough to eat at home. the man gives me some money if i sleep with him. reporter: violence and exploitation were a part of life during sierra leone's decade-long, brutal civil war in the 1990's. the country passed a domestic violence law in 2007, punishing abuse by up to two years in jail. but it's difficult to enforce women's rights, even with a special police force designed to assist families, and women, in particular.

aiesha: if women are given education better, women are encouraged to have a better education, because we have free education, but it's not extended, as far as i know, and, economically, women are not given the power, you know, to do business. they don't have the sources, like getting loans from banks , you know, and being self-reliant and getting something to do for themselves. reporter: today, about 1,000 men attend the 15 husband schools in sierra leone. when they're accompanied by their partners, the sessions are called "hamama." that's when debate can get heated and loud. but they are dealing with their problems openly and without violence. amara: if we're a good example to our children, then, perhaps, the next generation won't beat its women.

reporter: it's difficult to change social structures that have existed for centuries. but here in the village yambama lugbu, they're trying to do just that. ♪ host: women worldwide regularly campaign against physical and sexual violence, including in india, where thousands of women are killed every year by intimate partners. sometimes, all it takes is not bringing a sufficient dowry to a marriage. the world health organization lists poverty as one of the main reasons for domestic violence. earning income can give a woman a higher social status and, potentially, se her life reporter it's 8:00 in the : morning. kailash prajapati is making breakfast and getting her children ready for school. her husband is a day laborer at a marble mine in the area. she'll be leaving for work soon as well. unlike most other women in

living in india's rural areas, prajapati has a job. kailash: it is very difficult, because my husband had to take care of all of the bills and expenses. that's why i started working. now, we are fine, because i can help, as well. reporter: delwara is a small town in the western indian province of rajasthan. the streets are filled with men going about their business. women are a rare sight. traditionally, they tend to stay in the background. times are changing, but slowly. she still feels safer when she covers her face out in the street. before work, she drops off her son. six-year-old khushwant has just started school for a few years now, prajapat

i has had a job at sadhna, a cooperative that employs in the region around udaipur. the organization teaches the women all the skills they need for the job. the clothes they sew are sold online and in a dedicated shop. the profits are split. wages aren't based on working hours, but on output. kailash: if the design is easy, we get the work done fast. on average, we get three pieces done a day. ♪ reporter: udaipur is about 30 kilometers south of delwara. it is a popular destination for

tourists. sadhna's headquarters are located here, as is the shop. it sells a range of accessories and clothing manufactured in the area. the cooperative was set up over 30 years ago, starting with just 15 textile workers. now, over 700 work here. it has enabled women from nearby villages and poor neighborhoods to earn their own income. seema: empowerment comes with financial independence. when the woman is able to earn something on her own, she has a status in the family. otherwise, the family members were looking down on her, she didn't have a say in the family. some women themselves were uneducated. their children are now studying professional courses like medicine. in certain places, we have three generations of women working with us. reporter: in many areas, people still stick rigidly to old structures. not every woman is allowed to go to work at a factory.

to reach as many of them as possible, sadhna also lets women work from at home. the project is bringing change to society here. in the past, women of different castes would never have sat next to each other. but working together has fostered respect. roop: i can get work from the outside and work at home. in our family, we are not allowed to go out and work. so we set up this group of family members at home. initially, we were nine of us women. now we've included others and expanded to 17 or 18. reporter: the women of sadhna have come a long way. they have health-insurance coverage and are eligible for bank loans and scholarships for their children.

kailash wants her daughter, nisa, to have access to opportunities she never had. she hopes the 13-year-old will one day be able to pursue a job of her own. and nisa is also determined to follow her dreams. she wants to become a doctor. ♪ host: the people's republic of china was founded nearly 70 years ago. alongside the han chinese, the country has 55 official minorities. the autonomous province of xinjiang is home to most of the country's muslim minority, including 10 million uighurs and 1.5 million ethnic kazakhs. but they're banned from practicing most of their religious traditions and conflict in the region is rife. surveillance is also widespread. more than 1 million muslims are currently thought to be in chinese "re-education camps." many ethnic kazakhs have fled across the border. but kazakhstan is economically

dependent on china and offers them little protection. reporter: sophia is an ethnic kazakh and was severely traumatized by what she went through at home in china. she was held in a walled-off detention camp for a year. it was like prison. due to the danger involved, there are no photos of conditions inside. instead, she's drawing illustrations of what she went through. she is now in hiding in kazakhstan. she does not want to show her face on camera, because she is still scared of the chinese authorities. sophia: we were only allowed to shower once a week. after 15 minutes, they turned the water off, even if we still had shampoo in our hair. there were cameras everywhere, even in the shower and the toilets. it was total surveillance. they could watch every single

she is terrified they might find rerter: ev iher.zakhst, rakhima, too, was seized and imprisoned in china, because she had used a kazakh sim card. her captors put a black sack over her head. she spent a year in a camp. then she managed to get to. her cakazakhstan. black sack ceers, butou are lked in."rthe. yoare not ere of yr own oosing. theyut us unr pressu.d in."rthe. th dke in pron. usphysical. were he captivend denie our eedom. theyombardeds with cmunist party sos and spches in were he captivend denie ouinese.m. report: china ys it'scombatn xinjng, but khima sa most of the pple in dention we

t even rigious. scared, ightenedf beingpinterray felt terble, locd away,we they were even tre. they hadn't commted any crim. repoer: many enic kazakh imprisoned in china have relatives in kazakhstan, who are deeply ccerned. ayurt is auman-right ganization in maty. it helps peoe find tir relatives in china. its head is serikzhan bilash. the orgazation colles testimy about at is going in china's camps. it is mainly intellectuals, writer teacher and nurs whare seized and helin the camps. china has now officially acknowledged the existence of these camp which it ys serve an educational purpose. serikzn bilash eimates tha have been in chinese detention.

serikzn: our orgization collected every day more than 150 ople, anwe addedhat inrmation,nd we thoughthe re-educationenter is wse than jail. people tortured inside, kicked, punched, and forbidden to eat, rbidden toleep. rerter: becae of his campaigning for the rights of kazakhs in china, he is now under house arrest in kazakhstan. in the summer of 2018, he posted this video on youtube. five-year-old akyol wants to find his father, who has disappeared. he is a cook working in china where the pay is better. ♪ reporter: months later, the father was back home with his family in almaty. he's also frightened of the chinese authorities and does not

want to be identified. berek: they fed us a constant stream of chinese communist songs from morning to night, and then they tested us again and again to see if we had learned them by heart. reporter: methods that are familiar from the days of mao's cultural revolution. berek: we were not allowed to complain about the guards. they tormented us all the time. they shouted at us, and they beat us. and we could not say a word. they treated us like animals. reporter: since 2016, china has been cracking down on members of the kazakh, kyrgyz, and uygur ethnic groups in the province of xinjiang. they are majority muslim. rakhima is among the many kazakhs to flee china. she's a seamstress and hopes to find a job in almaty.

rakhima: we can't live in china anymore. they want to destroy our kazakh culture and that of the kyrgyz and uygurs. they want to make us all chinese. but i want to keep my religion, my identity, and my roots. reporter: rakhima says detention, so-called "reducation,surveillan, antorture ll only eed hatr. fosophia, o, is bier.w place . th are arrant, andheir inese cey are so ld.ves.

repoer: soph's drawis bear testimonto her sfering a that oher peop still in e camp ♪ host: this week in global ideas, we discover how centuries-old traditions are protecting coastal regions from the effects of climate change. our reporter, linda vierecke, travelled to mexico. outside the town of tlacotalpan, an old aztec planting technique is helping prevent flooding along the coastline. ♪ azael: i see myself as an aztec, and i carry the roots of my culture within me. i've worked in farming since i was a boy. my grandparents once grew vegetables, such as lettuce, on this land. today, the work is done by my father, my brother, and me.

linda: azael is paddling to his chinampa, part of a sustainable farming system established by his aztec forefathers 500 years ago. chinampas are artificial islands made from mud and reeds, and separated by canals. they're typically 300-meters long and 15-meters wide. to this day, the farming is done by hand with no help from tractors or ploughs. azael: we use buckets to take the water and the mud that we need straight from the canals. then, we transport it all in our boats. after drying out the mud, we plant the seeds in the resulting soil. it's a technique used centuries ago by our ancestors, the aztecs, and it's very efficient. linda: azael harvests the produce from his chinampa up to five times a year. he sells the vegetables to restaurants in downtown mexico city. the historic center is just 20 kilometers away. the chinampas are one of the last remaining oases in the

sprawling mega-city. 500 kilometers away, on the coast of the gulf of mexico, flor aronis cruz is hoping chinampas will make her life easier. flor: empty -- again! linda: she catches fish and crabs for a living. but today's catch is modest to -- she's set up 20 traps, which have ensnared just eight crabs. flor: there used to be a lot more crabs here. at this time of year, there would already be really big ones. but there was nothing today. normally we'd have more crabs when the current comes, but that's not the case. we are really noticing the change. reporter: for the crabs, finding refuge along the coast is becoming increasingly difficult due to deforestation. mangroves have suffered especially heavy losses and have been depleted by over 30% over the past 40 years. that means the disappearance of

a crucial protective habitat for local animals. these people are determined to revive those havens in a regional mangrove-planting scheme. nobody here is bothered about getting their fingers dirty. >> it's actually kind of fun!" linda: the men are building chinampas, just as the aztecs did 500 years ago. the little islands of earth and reeds will provide homes for the mangroves to thrive in. >> we're using the technique because the land is so deep in the water. the plant wouldn't grow without the support of the chinampa. it would be blown over by the first gust of wind. linda: the mangrove reforestation scheme is organized by citlalli alhelí and her team from the pro natura conservation group.

they initially had difficulty reintroducing mangroves in the coastal regions. they wouldn't grow, because the water level was too high. citlalli: it's surprising to see this old chinampa technique from central mexico. one that's being used here on the gulf to help replenish mangroves. it's great to be creating a link to our heritage and also that people from the region are involved in the project. linda: mangroves used to be everywhere here, but they've now been replaced by pasture-land right up to the shore, grazed by cattle, in a traditional fishing region. flor aronis cruz and her family are pinning their hopes on the conservation group and the chinampas. once the mangrove forests have been restored, their haul of

fish and crabs should grow again as well. flor and her husband and son took part in the planting project, helping to re-establish the old ecosystem. flor: i was practically born in the water, in the river. i never went to school. but one of the few things i do know about the world is how important the mangroves are for us and the entire system. for all the species, for everyone, and everything. ♪ [horn honks] linda: back in the center of the country, the suburbs of the capital have been creeping ever closer to the chinampas in recent years. azael meléndez and the other farmers are concerned about their fields. the biggest danger for this old method of sustainable farming is humankind itself.

azael: wherever people go, they pollute. they leave trash everywhere, including in the canals. eventually they fill up and dry out, and you can't row down them anymore. the canals become dirty. ♪ linda: azael would like to see his children take over his chinampa one day, passing on a piece of their aztec heritage. ♪ host: that's all from "global 3000" this week. what did you think of today's show? send your thoughts to global3000@dw.com. and check out our facebook page, dw women. see you next time! [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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