BOGOTA, (Reuters) – Road blockades set up by community members around Zijin Mining’s 601899.SS Colombia gold mine were lifted, a government official said yesterday, after more than a week of protests which hit the Chinese company’s production.
The blockades were set up around the mine in Buritica municipality on Aug. 12 to demand a rescue mission to find informal miners allegedly trapped in a tunnel.
It was not clear how many miners were presumed to be trapped or killed or what incident may have occurred in the tunnel, and despite several rescue missions, no bodies have been found
“Mayor Hernando Graciano of the municipality of Buritica informs me that the blockade of the roads to the municipality and to the mine has been lifted,” Luis Fernando Suarez, security secretary of the Antioquia department, said on Twitter.
Production was stopped because of the blockades, the company had said.
A Zijin spokesperson said they had received the news and would later inform when “normal activities will resume.”
Thousands of wildcat miners work in sometimes-deadly conditions in dozens of informal tunnels in Buritica, including many within or adjoining Zijin’s concession.
The activities, controlled by the Clan del Golfo crime gang, are a safety issue for the surrounding community and affect Zijin’s output, a Reuters investigation last year showed.
Singapore will decriminalise sex between men, no change in marriage rules – PM
SINGAPORE, (Reuters) – Singapore will decriminalise sex between men but has no plans to change the legal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.
LGBTQ groups welcomed Lee’s decision to repeal Section 377A of the penal code, a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between men, but also expressed concern that ruling out same-sex marriage would help to perpetuate discrimination.
In his annual national day rally speech, Lee said Singaporean society, especially young people in the city-state, were becoming more accepting of gay people.
“I believe this is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept,” he said.
It was unclear when exactly Section 377A would be repealed.
Singapore becomes the latest Asian country to move toward ending discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community.
In 2018, India’s highest court scrapped a colonial-era ban on gay sex, while Thailand has recently edged closer to legalising same-sex unions.
Under Singapore’s Section 377A, offenders can be jailed for up to two years under the law, but it is not currently actively enforced. There have been no known convictions for sex between consenting adult males for decades and the law does not include sex between women or other genders.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) groups have brought multiple legal challenges attempting to strike down the law, but none has succeeded.
On Sunday, several LGBTQ rights groups said in a joint statement they were “relieved” by Lee’s announcement.
“For everyone who has experienced the kinds of bullying, rejection and harassment enabled by this law, repeal finally enables us to begin the process of healing. For those that long for a more equal and inclusive Singapore, repeal signifies that change is indeed possible,” they said in the statement.
But the groups also urged the government not to heed calls from religious conservatives to enshrine the definition of marriage in the constitution, saying this would signal that LGBTQ+ citizens were not equal.
