What is the Urgent Action Network?
The concept is simple: Take Action, Change a Life.
Urgent Actions ask our community of volunteers to flood the mailboxes, inboxes, phones and social media of authorities when someone is in imminent danger of human rights violations. Your letters, emails, phone calls, faxes and Tweets have helped to halt executions, support human rights defenders and free prisoners of conscience—people jailed solely for the peaceful expression of their beliefs and identity.
Please note that the US postal service has suspended service to some countries in light of COVID-19 – reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions.
How Does It Work?
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STEP 1: Sign Up Today!
Sign up to receive Urgent Action emails. You can choose to receive all emails or a more limited number. You can also choose to receive emails on specific issues or regions.
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STEP 2: Take Action Now!
Urgent Action emails specify the case, local and international government officials to contact, their contact information and suggestions about what to write, say or Tweet.
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Our Educator’s Guide
Are you an educator looking for ways to engage your students in human rights? Find out how your students can show their power through letter writing!
In many cases, your action on these cases leads to better conditions for prisoners and their eventual release. Those individuals at the center of these Urgent Actions often send their thanks to Amnesty International, citing that these messages serve as a source of hope.
The reason we could resist the ban and move forward was the international support and solidarity by Amnesty International activists around the world. We could not have gone further without your support.
I am very grateful for all the support I received while I was in prison. Life in prison was very difficult and I was treated badly, but the support of those who believed in me made me strong.
My case once again showed how important solidarity and attention are in protecting the freedom of speech and human rights. I admire your noble work and boundless courage, dear activists.
Browse Urgent Actions
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Rakhine Journalist Receiving Death Threats (Myanmar: UA 95.17)
Journalist Nay Min Aung (known as Min Min) has been receiving death threats after publishing an article about an armed ethnic group operating in Rakhine State, Myanmar. The authorities must…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Activist In Solitary Confinement For 1,234 Days (Egypt: UA 91.17)
On 4 February, the Cairo Administrative Court postponed activist Ahmed Douma’s appeal against his prolonged solitary confinement to 16 May. He has been held in poor detention conditions since his…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: University Lecturer Must Be Released (Uganda: UA 89.17)
Dr Stella Nyanzi, a Ugandan university lecturer, was arrested on 7 April and subsequently charged with insulting the president and violating his right to privacy. She remains in detention awaiting…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Human Rights Defenders’ Lives In Danger (Haiti: UA 87.17)
Human rights defenders David Boniface and Juders Ysemé fear for their lives following the sudden death of their colleague, Nissage Martyr, one day after the three men filed a lawsuit…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Supreme Court Of Tucuman Acquits Belén (Argentina: UA 95.16)
On 27 March, the Supreme Court of Tucuman Province,northern Argentina, unanimously decided to acquit Belén, the 27-year-old young woman who had been sentenced to eight years of prison after suffering…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Vulnerable Asylum Seeker Unfairly Detained (Papua New Guinea: UA 37.17)
Loghman Sawari, an Iranian refugee, is being detained at Waigani Police cells, Papua New Guinea, under new charges under the Migration Act. Currently on bail for similar charges under the…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Imprisoned Iranian Journalist On Hunger Strike (Iran: UA 86.17)
Iranian journalist Hengameh Shahidi is in a critical condition in Tehran’s Evin prison. She has been on hunger strike for 29 days in protest at her arrest on 9 March.…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Journalist May Lose Son After Covering Protests (Belarus: UA 81.17)
The Belarusian authorities are threatening to take journalist Larysa Schiryakova’s 10 year old son away from her. This threat follows her critical reporting of events in the country including the…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Environmental Defender Intimidated (Guatemala: UA 85.17)
On the night of 3 April, unidentified people situated in front of human rights defender Rafael Maldonado’s house in Guatemala City, shot at a car nearby. Although he was unharmed,…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Human Rights Defenders Of Water At Risk (Chile: UA 82.17)
Members of the Defence Movement of Earth, Environmental Protection and Access to Water are facing death threats because of their work defending the right to water in Petorca Province, central…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Student Convicted For Posession of ‘Illegal’ Books (Malaysia: UA 79.17)
Research student Siti Noor Aishah has been sentenced by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to five years in prison for possessing 12 books deemed ‘illegal’ by the Malaysian government.
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Human Rights Lawyer Receiving Death Threats (Myanmar: UA 77.17)
Human rights lawyer Robert Sann Aung has been receiving death threats and insulting messages since the assassination of another prominent lawyer in Myanmar. The authorities must take immediate steps to…