Cameroon prosecutes people for consensual same-sex conduct more aggressively than almost any country in the world, four human rights organizations said in a report released today. The organizations -- Alternatives-Cameroun, Association for the Defense of Gays and Lesbians (ADEFHO), the Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS (CAMFAIDS), and Human Rights Watch -- found that at least 28 people have been prosecuted for same-sex conduct in Cameroon since 2010. Most cases are marked by grave human rights violations, including torture, forced confessions, denial of access to legal counsel, and discriminatory treatment by law enforcement and judicial officials.

The government of South Sudan should increase efforts to protect girls from child marriage. The country's widespread child marriage exacerbates South Sudan's pronounced gender gaps in school enrollment, contributes to soaring maternal mortality rates, and violates the right of girls to be free from violence, and to marry only when they are able and willing to give their free consent.

The government of Cameroon should immediately take action against a series of death threats made over the last four months to two lawyers who represent clients accused of homosexual conduct. Alice Nkom and Michel Togué, Cameroonian human rights lawyers, began receiving death threats in October 2012, in the form of emails and text messages, assailing the lawyers for their work defending clients charged with homosexuality. Nkom and Togué are among the only lawyers courageous enough to take up these cases in a country where homophobia is pervasive.