ISLAMABAD: Colombian authorities said Sunday they had rescued 17 minors from members of Lev Tahor, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect under investigation for alleged child sex abuse. Lev Tahor, which practices a form of Judaism in which women wear black tunics covering them from head to toe, has been the subject of investigations for the mistreatment of minors in several countries. &quot;We have rescued 17 boys, girls and teens,&quot; the country&#39;s immigration service said on X, with pictures of some of the children, their faces blurred or shielded from view. &quot;International alerts have been issued over crimes against minors associated with this community.&quot; The raid took place on Saturday, police said. The minors -- who are of various nationalities including American and Guatemalan, were taken to a government-run center. &quot;There are indications that some of them may have been kidnapped, suggesting a possible human trafficking scenario, under the guise of religious activity,&quot; a police report said. The Lev Tahor sect was formed in the 1980s, and some members settled in Guatemala in 2013. Authorities estimate that the community is made up of roughly 50 families from Guatemala, the United States, Canada and other countries. Lev Tahor also has run into problems with officials in Mexico and Canada. Interpol has issued red notices for the arrest of some of the group&#39;s leaders. In December 2024, Guatemalan authorities rescued 160 minors from a farm occupied by Lev Tahor, alleging they were being abused. At the time, public prosecutor Dimas Jimenez told a press conference that the raid was carried out due to suspicions of &quot;forced pregnancy, mistreatment of minors and rape.&quot;

Americas

Lev Tahor has been the subject of investigations for the mistreatment of minors in several countries.

Colombia says 17 minors rescued from Jewish sect accused of abuse

PARIS:&nbsp;Thousands of protesters across France braved the cold on Saturday to express their anger over the persistence of violence against women and demand more public action and funds to combat the scourge. In Paris, crowds of demonstrators -- 50,000 according to organizers, 17,000 according to the police -- waved signs, chanted, danced and sang as they moved through the capital in the protests organized by the Greve feministe (Feminist Strike) collective of some 60 organizations. &ldquo;A man kills a woman every 2.5 days in France,&rdquo; read one placard distributed by the feminist collective NousToutes (All of us Women).<figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/d8643eab-513b-4cac-a05f-ce1f564629cc-France women protest1.jpg" alt="France women protest1.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">PARIS: Protesters take part in a demonstration called by the French collective NousToutes (Us all) to protest against violence against women, at Place de La Republique in Paris, on November 22, 2025. -- Photo by AFP</figcaption></figure> &ldquo;Nine out of 10 victims know their rapist,&rdquo; read another. &lsquo;Loved without being abused&rsquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;It&#39;s 2025, is it still normal to count our dead women?&rdquo; said Sylvaine Grevin, president of the national femicide victims&#39; federation, whose sister was killed in 2017, ahead of the start of the Paris demonstration. Hundreds of protesters also gathered in the cold in other cities, creating crowds awash in purple -- a color linked to feminism. &ldquo;We have the right to be loved without being abused,&rdquo; said 20-year-old student Juliette in Lille in northern France. Intimate partner femicidesThe associations behind the protests are calling for the adoption of a comprehensive framework law against violence, along with a three-billion-euro budget ($3.5-billion) to implement it. They are also calling for improved education and funding for groups that support victims of violence. According to official figures published Thursday by MIPROF, a government organization tasked with protecting women from violence and fighting human trafficking, the number of intimate partner femicides rose by 11% between 2023 and 2024, with 107 women killed by their partner or ex-partner. &lsquo;Every two minutes&rsquo;&nbsp;A woman is a victim of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault every two minutes, and every 23 seconds of sexual harassment, indecent exposure, or the unsolicited sending of sexual content, according to MIPROF. The Women&#39;s Foundation rights group estimates the minimum annual budget the government should allocate to protecting victims of domestic, gender-based and sexual violence in France is 2.6 billion euros -- equivalent to 0.5% of the state budget.

Europe

A woman is a victim of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault every two minutes, and every 23 seconds of sexual harassment, indecent exposure, or the unsolicited sending of sexual content, according to MIPROF.

Articles tagged with "Sexual violence"

Colombia says 17 minors rescued from Jewish sect accused of abuse

Thousands march in France to demand action on violence against women