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?
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.
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.
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.
Browse Urgent Actions
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: DETAINED RIGHTS DEFENDER DENIED MEDICAL CARE (Belarus: 148.20)
Marfa Rabkova is a Belarusian human rights defender and the coordinator of the volunteer network of the NGO Viasna. She has been in pretrial detention since September 2020 and risks…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: FEARS OF TORTURE FOR ABDUCTED ACTIVIST (Philippines: UA 116.21)
Steve Abua, a land rights activist and community organizer of farmers and Indigenous Peoples, has been missing since he was abducted on November 6, 2021, in Central Luzon. Steve’s wife…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: STOP DEPORTATION OF HEALTHCARE WORKER (Canada: UA 115.21)
Mamadou Konaté, an immigrant worker from Ivory Coast who has lived in Canada for six years, is at imminent risk of deportation, which has been scheduled for November 19, 2021.…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: IMMINENT THREAT TO PEACEFUL PROTESTERS IN CUBA (Cuba: UA 88.21)
Civil society groups have called for peaceful protests across Cuba on November 15, 2021, to demand respect for human rights and the release of hundreds of people still imprisoned following…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: WHISTLEBLOWER FACES 5-YEAR IMPRISONMENT (Madagascar: UA 111.21)
Ravo Ramasomanana, a former employee of the Ministry of Public Health, is facing imprisonment of up to 5 years for threatening public order and security and inciting political unrest and…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: TWO MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT DETAINED (Eswatini: UA 113.21)
On July 25, 2021, Members of Eswatini Parliament Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube were detained amid a wave of pro-democracy protests and charged under the Suppression of Terrorism Act…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: SAUDI ARABIA: RELEASE 10 EGYPTIAN NUBIAN MEN (Saudi Arabia: UA 112.21)
Ten Egyptian men of the Nubian ethnicity are due to appear for their first hearing before the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh on November 10, 2021. Saudi Arabian authorities have…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: UNJUST PRISON TERMS FOR DETAINED DUAL NATIONALS (Iran: 8.21)
Activists German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi and British-Iranian Mehran Raoof have been arbitrarily detained in Tehran’s Evin prison since October 16, 2020, solely for peacefully exercising their human rights. In August 2021,…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: UNLAWFUL EXECUTION SET FOR MALAYSIAN NATIONAL (Singapore: UA 109.21)
The authorities of Singapore have set the execution of Malaysian national Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam for November 10, 2021. In violation of international law and standards, he was sentenced to the…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: ACTIVIST CONVICTED OF TERRORISM GLORIFICATION (Algeria: UA 110.21)
On October 17, 2021, the First-Instance Tribunal of Adrar, a city 1400 km south west of Algiers, the Algerian capital, convicted environmental activist Mohad Gasmi to five years in prison…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: LGBTI RIGHTS DEFENDER VIOLENTLY ATTACKED (Tunisia: UA 104.21)
Badr Baabou, a human rights defender and LGBTI rights activist, was violently assaulted by police officers on the night of October 21, 2021, in downtown Tunis. Security forces have been…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: ONGOING REPRESSION OF PEACEFUL PROTESTERS (Thailand: UA 134.20)
Hundreds of human rights defenders continue to be detained, indicted, and prosecuted for peacefully exercising their human rights and participating in protests for reform. Authorities continue to use stringent bail…