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 im always trying to figure some things out. Is what is new that i know about in the first place . Why arent 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. Its 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 countrys 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 indias 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 coshared by william haguwilliam hague and angelina jolieer, envoy for commission of refugee. Its 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 lets 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. Well 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. Its like a hope, an its aspiration. That is the goal. Thats 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. Theyre pushing their politicians to do something. Theyre learning how to protect themselves from violence. And its 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 dont 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, were 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 youre 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 lotits complicated. It has a lot of things that we can do. So why are folks not saying ive got the answer . Because the answer is not just one thing. It requires many different forms of engagement. Its what brought women for women into being. Its the profound horror and trauma that we witnessed from the bosnian war in which we saw the women survivors left alone. They didnt have an infrastructure. These are socially excluded, marginalized women. What weve 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 wont 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 youve 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 dont 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 thats the norm. I think that the exception is what the global summit in london which im attending is trying to do, to end the culture of immunity for Sexual Violence particularly in relation to Sexual Violence and conflicts. Its 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 its seeking to strengthento 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. Were going to take a short break. When we come back well talk about social sanction whether there is enough outrage in many of these societies were talking about to force a response. To force a new paradigm in society and an idea that you just cant get away with this stuff any more. This is inside story. Stay with us. Now inroducing, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. Get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. A global perspective wherever you are. The major headlines in context. Mashable says. Youll never miss the latest news they will continue looking for suvivors. The potential for Energy Production is huge. No noise, no clutter, just real reporting. The new Al Jazeera America mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. Download it now Al Jazeera America presents the system with Joe Berlinger parole someone is going to get out and do something heinous its goanna happen. When is enough. Enough . Im not sure why you didnt learn from your last incarceration some prisoners try to get it right im trying to go to school and get a nice job youre only 22, you can turn this around. And some just dont he actually told people in the halfway house, that he was amazed that they had given him parole the system with Joe Burlinger only on Al Jazeera America youre watching inside story. On Al Jazeera America. Im 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 wifes 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 theyre really ready to do inside these countries . Well, i think thats right. I think thats 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 theyre 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 wont be punished. There are women who live in family groupings where their family members have abused them terribly. Their neighbors wont say anything. The people they work with wont say anything. Im 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 dont. As they go into adolescence they begin to see their peers, their fathers, others, groping, touching women in public, thats what they learn. So in many ways subtle and not so subtle these men have internalized the message that i ami can take what i want from a woman when i want it. It doesnt matter her age. It doesnt matter if shes my wife or not. And there isthere is no repercussions for me. The interesting thing, though, much of the Research Done and the polling thats 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. Thats actually a great poi point, ritu. The expectation that there is justified violence. It is something in our programs, im 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 weve had this conversation and a lot of countries say yes, were 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. Weve had these conversations. Were good at it. Weve 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 nextdoor neighbor being spanked or beaten and saying, well were 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 shes being regularly beaten by her husband. And its causing depression, anxiety. She has lost hope. She does not see a future. The women in that programthese are 25 women, they go with her to her husbands house, to the community. They circle her house. They knock on the door and they say dont 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 well 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. Ve only on Al Jazeera America. Oh my welcome back. Im ray suarez. Were looking at the daily toll of violence against women and girls on this program. Its not that its condoned. Its not that its endorsed, not explicitly anyway. What were 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 thats pretty astounding. Mmhmm. 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 weeks conference is bringing and creating a space for individuals who are in leadership positions, but its not just happening in london. What we see is that when you have leaders, you dont have to be on the cover of a magazine to have influence, ray. What we find in our programs, when we do mens 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 familys wealth or support the children we see documented evidencedriven 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 its in this chaos that we often see rape being used as a mass weapon. Yes, thats right. I mean, there will have been a preexistence of rape and Sexual Violence in the community. But during times of conflict itthe 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, theyre initiating transit houses, support houses for victim survivors. Theyre 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 its a longterm 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 thats 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, theyre often degraded because of the economic circumstances they live. I think thats often the case, but i dont think we want to confuse the issue by saying that rape doesnt 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 were 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 lowcost solutions. At a Community Level were talking about 15,000 to get a an enormous amount done. It works and its cheap. For less than 300 you can sponsor a woman to give her a yearlong training, to get her skills to go on her vocational track. Thats powerful. That brings us to this edition of inside story. Thanks for being with us. In washington, im ray suarez. This is Al Jazeera America live from new york city. Im thomas drayton. Lets get you caught up on the top stories we are following this hour. Iraq fights back against the rebellion thats been tearing the country apart. Israeli soldiers search fore three teenagers that disappeared from the west bank. What can we aspect from the supreme court. And