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: RELEASE CLEARED MEN FROM GUANTÁNAMO (USA: UA 66.22)
Out of the 36 men who remain at the US military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, 20 are cleared for release yet remain imprisoned today. The prison has been open…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: LEBANESE MAN DISSAPEARED IN SAUDI ARABIA (Saudi Arabia: UA 72.22)
On August 4, 2021, Ali Maziad, a Lebanese national residing in Saudi Arabia, was abducted from his house in the capital, Riyadh by a group of men in civilian clothes.…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: JOURNALIST DENIED URGENT HEALTH CARE (Yemen: UA 27.16)
The health condition of Tawfiq al-Mansouri, one of the four Yemeni journalists detained since 2015 and sentenced to death in April 2020 before the Huthi-run Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a,…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: ACTIVIST SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON (Russian Federation: UA 71.22)
On July 15, 2022, a court in Krasnodar (southern Russia) sentenced Andrei Pivovarov to four years in prison for “carrying out activities of an undesirable organization”, under a law that…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: STUDENT UNJUSTLY CONVICTED BY SPECIAL COURT (Egypt: UA 15.21)
On July 4, 2022, a Misdemeanours Emergency State Security Court (ESSC) convicted Egyptian researcher Ahmed Samir Santawy of spreading “false news” and sentenced him to three years imprisonment. His conviction…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: RELEASE ARBITRARILY DETAINED JOURNALIST (Yemen: UA 69.22)
Journalist Younis Abdelsalam has been arbitrarily detained without charge by the Huthi de facto authorities for almost a year. He was falsely accused of communicating with foreign entities. Following his…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: PROTECT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDER AT RISK (Colombia: UA 50.22)
On July 5, 2022, Yuli Velásquez, President of the Federation of Santander Fishers for Tourism and Environment (FEDEPESAN), an environmental organization operating in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, was the victim of an…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: STOP VIOLENT FORCED EVICTION OF THE MAASAI (Tanzania: UA 35.22)
More than 70,000 Indigenous Maasai people are at risk of being evicted from their ancestral grazing lands to make way for a tourism operation after a paramilitary group arrived on…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: INVESTIGATE TORTURE OF WHISTLEBLOWER (Algeria: UA 43.22)
Mohamed Benhlima is an activist, former military official and whistleblower who exposed alleged corruption by high-ranking Algerian military officials online. He sought asylum in Spain but the Spanish authorities refouled…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: POLITICAL LEADER HELD INCOMMUNICADO (Cuba: UA 67.22)
José Daniel Ferrer García, leader of the unofficial political opposition group “Patriotic Union of Cuba,” who was arrested last July 11, 2022, in the context of island-wide protests and has…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: NEW ADMINISTRATION MUST FREE LEILA (Philippines: UA 48.22)
Prisoner of conscience and former senator Leila de Lima has been detained for over five years, as new government leaders, including Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, assume their posts beginning…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: FURTHER EXECUTION DATES SET (Singapore: UA 15.22)
Hangings have resumed in Singapore for drug related offenses, after Abdul Kahar bin Othman was executed on March 30, and Malaysian national Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was executed on April 29, while…