(CNN) -- The allegation is shocking: an 8-year-old girl lured to a storage shed with the promise of chewing gum, pinned down and sexually assaulted by four boys, none of them older than 14.



President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has made cracking down on sex crimes a top priority in Liberia.



The response from the girl's family sent a second and equally stunning shockwave through their Phoenix, Arizona, community: "The parents felt that they had been shamed or embarrassed by their child," reported Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill.



As a result, the girl was taken into custody by Arizona's child welfare agency.



The prosecutor who charged the four boys called the crime "heartrending" and "deeply disturbing." But to those familiar with Liberia, the west African nation where the families of all of the children are from, the crime and response are both part of a sadly familiar story.



"It's something that happens every day in every community in Liberia," said Tania Bernath, a researcher for the human rights group Amnesty International.



The country was racked by a brutal civil war for most of 14 years. During that time, rape was used by fighters on all sides as a tool of war and a way to spread terror and demoralize enemies.



A United Nations report in 2004, the year after much of the fighting stopped, estimated that 60 to 70 percent of all women in the nation had been the victims of sexual violence.



A 2006 government report said that of 1,600 women surveyed, 92 percent reported some kind of sexual violence, including rape.



"They would have cases where they would rape the wife in front of the husband -- things like that, really breaking down communities," said Bernath, who spent several years in Liberia working for a relief organization.



While no one yet knows whether the boys charged in the case were exposed directly to violence in their homeland, advocates say they fear that harmful attitudes toward rape in Liberia have followed some members of the tight-knit immigrant community to the United States.  Watch a report on the allegations and cultural conflicts »



"Things like gang rape were used so often during the war that I think, with kids, if they saw it and heard it or heard about it -- that's part of what you might wonder about [in the Phoenix case]," Bernath said. "It was sort of normalized."



In the Phoenix case, a 14-year-old boy who police say was the ringleader is being charged as an adult. The other boys accused are 13, 10 and 9 and were charged as juveniles.



Phone calls by CNN to the Maricopa County public defender's office, most recently on Wednesday, have not been returned.



It's not known what, if any, exposure the boys or their parents had to the fighting in their homeland, where it was once commonplace for children as young as 7 or 8 to be forced into duty -- the boys handed rifles while the girls were made to perform chores or serve as sex slaves.



A United Nations report estimates that about 70 percent of all fighters in the conflict were younger than 18, and former fighters have told U.N. and other researchers about the rapes they say they routinely committed.



After the Phoenix attack, a 23-year-old sister of the victim told a reporter that her sister was "bringing confusion" after the assault was discovered by a neighbor. She said that she wanted the suspects to be released from jail because "we are the same people" and that her sister would be ostracized by others in the Liberian community for being a rape victim. It's a reaction that Beverly Goll-Yekeson knows all too well.



A native of Liberia, Yekeson was a victim of sexual violence and now works as an advocate for other Liberian women. She says most families in Liberia condemn rape, but the crime is drastically underreported because of the stigma victims and relatives feel.



"There are a lot of social illnesses in the society; they are ashamed to come out," said Yekeson
how many women were assualted What number of women were assault victims? What is used as a weapon Who was assualted How many women were assault victims? What was the age of the girl?
92 percent 60 to 70 percent rape 8-year-old girl surveyed, 92 percent reported some kind of sexual violence, including rape. 8-year-old
question: how many women were assualted, answer: 92 percent | question: What number of women were assault victims?, answer: 60 to 70 percent | question: What is used as a weapon, answer: rape | question: Who was assualted, answer: 8-year-old girl | question: How many women were assault victims?, answer: surveyed, 92 percent reported some kind of sexual violence, including rape. | question: What was the age of the girl?, answer: 8-year-old