Steave Nemande, president of the human rights organization Alternatives-Cameroun, speaks out against laws criminalizing homosexuality.

Six relentless and courageous advocates of human rights will be honored in November 2010, with the prestigious Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism. All six have faced substantial threats of violence or imprisonment, but they continue to speak out and to work to create a world in which people live free of violence, discrimination, and oppression.

Cameroon should decriminalize consensual sexual acts between adults of the same sex.

A recent decision by the UK Supreme Court found that a gay man would "face a well-founded fear of persecution" if he returned to Cameroon. The Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal's decision that this Cameroonian man could return and conceal his identity to avoid persecution.

The Commonwealth has developed a 21st-century role – as a haven for serial human rights abusers.

Recognizing our obligation to help protect human rights and uphold the rule of law, we, the undersigned civil society organizations, appeal to African ICC States Parties to reaffirm their support for the ICC and their commitment to abide by their obligations under the Rome Statute, particularly in relation to the arrest and transfer of the President of Sudan to the ICC.