South African blacks must put aside political affiliations and work together if they are to develop schools that will provide their children with a good education and the freedom to decide their own destinies, writes Veli Mbele.

Even with Mbeki gone, South Africa remains plagued by quacks selling ZAR80 juices they claim can cure a disease that only ARVs can treat, writes Oliver Meth.

Okachikwu Dibia takes a roadtrip to a village in Nigeria and is appalled at the state of the roads.

Anna Tibaijuka, until recently the executive director of the UN Habitat, has been appointed to the Tanzanian cabinet. Chambi Chachage writes to her and offers some sage advice.

Following her involvement in workshops and discussions around female genital mutilation (FGM) in Sierra Leone, Chi Mgbako relates her experiences of listening to the views of young people from the country.

Calling for greater recognition of the fact that ‘globalised’ action ignores the diversity of cultural, social, political and economic factors around the world, Fungai Machirori underlines that ‘we have to realise that when we talk gender and development, we are talking about human beings.’

Lamenting Somalia’s long-term problems, Warsan Cismaan Saalax stresses that it ‘is important to begin triangled negotiations and dialogue between the TFG [Transitional Federal Government], Puntland and Somaliland’.

Given that there is ‘no legitimate basis to deny the application of CAL and to do so contravenes the provision of the African Charter and existing international human rights instruments’, Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition is calling on the ACHPR to reconsider its decision.

ACHPR's decision to refuse observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians is inconsistent with the established jurisprudence and work of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, says INTERIGHTS.

'We find it reprehensible that CAL's application was rejected, considering that they meet all the criteria set out for groups to obtain observer status and that they represent a minority group whose vulnerability to human rights abuse is well documented.'

The Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) outlines the stigmatisation of people based on sexual orientation in the context of the African Commission rejecting an application for observer status from the Coalition of African Lesbians.

Following its rejection of CAL’s (Coalition of African Lesbians) application for observer status, L. Muthoni Wanyeki of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) petitions the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to ‘provide leadership in the protection and promotion of the human rights of sexual minorities in Africa’.

The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) calls on the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights to confirm that it does not reject the rights of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) people.

We at Global Rights express our deepest disappointment, dissatisfaction and concern for the decision of the commission to deny observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL).

INTERIGHTS urges the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to reconsider its refusal of observer status for the Coalition for African Lesbians (CAL).

The Center for Women’s Global Leadership is writing to express our deep concern about the recent decision, made on behalf of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), to not grant observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL).

Lydia Alpízar Durán, on behalf of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, writes to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights regarding the denial of the application from the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) for observer status at the commission, news ‘received with great disappointment’.

Amnesty International welcomes this opportunity to address the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the state of the situation of human rights in Africa.

Alternatives Cameroon, in collaboration with the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL), would like to congratulate the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights for passing a resolution establishing a committee on People Living with HIV/AIDS and Those most at Risk to address the violations of the rights of vulnerable groups, with a specific emphasis on women, children, sex workers, migrants, men who have sex with men and prisoners.

This is a protest letter at the decision by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to deny observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL).