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
Venezuela: Protect Humberto Prado Sifontes (UA 104/16)
Venezuelan human rights defender Humberto Prado Sifontes has been threatened for his work examining prisons.
Urgent Action
Argentina: Release Belén (UA 95/16)
Belén continues to be detained in Tucuman Province, northern Argentina, after suffering a miscarriage in a public hospital. On 12 May, her release was denied.
Urgent Action
Help Release Bidun Rights Defender (Kuwait: UA 102/16)
On 20 September, the Misdemeanours Court of Cassation upheld a sentence of one year’s imprisonment and deportation of ‘Abdulhakim al-Fadhli, a defender of the rights of the stateless Bidun…
Urgent Action
Stop Action! – Austria: Restrictive Asylum Law Signed (UA 103/16)
On 20 May the outgoing federal president Heinz Fischer signed the amendments to Austria’s asylum law introducing, among other changes, “special measures for the maintenance of public order and…
Urgent Action
Colombia: Guarantee Safety of Afro-descendant Leaders (UA 93/16)
Several Afro-descendant leaders from Cauca Department have been threatened as they continue their campaign in favour of their territorial rights and against illegal mining. 1) Please write immediately…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Child Released From Administrative Detention (Israel/OPT: UA 101/16)
Abed al-Rahman Awad Kmail was released by the Israeli authorities from administrative detention on 2 October after nearly eight months in detention in Megiddo prison inside Israel. He had…
Urgent Action
Sudan: Release Protesters (UA 100/16)
Six former University of Khartoum students have been detained without charge in Khartoum since 23 April after being arrested by the Sudanese National Intelligence Security Service (NISS) during a…
Urgent Action
Help Release Guo Feixiong (China: UA 99/16)
Imprisoned Chinese Human Rights Defender Yang Maodong (better known by his pen name Guo Feixiong) ended his hunger strike on 18 August after being moved to another prison and…
Urgent Action
Good News! – Human Rights Defender Malek Adly Released (Egypt: UA 98/16)
On 28 August human rights defender Malek Adly was released from a police station in Shubra al-Khaimah, three days after a court ordered his release and rejected an appeal…
Urgent Action
Iran: Reveal Yousef Silavi’s Whereabouts (UA 97/16)
The Iranian authorities have yet to establish the fate and whereabouts of Yousef Silavi, from Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority, who has been missing since November 2009.
Urgent Action
Pakistan: Grant Clemency to Abdul Basit (UA 96/16)
A Pakistani man convicted and sentenced to death for murder in 2009, Abdul Basit, is at risk of execution. His execution has been stayed three times, all at the…
Urgent Action
Help Drop Charges Against Prisoners Of Conscience (Togo: UA 94/16)
Two prisoners of conscience and two other men have been released on bail in Dapaong, Northern Togo. Five other men who had been detained with them in relation to…