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: INVESTIGATE MISHANDLING OF THE PANDEMIC (Brazil: UA 108.21)
On October 27, 2021, the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission delivered to the Federal Public Ministry its final report on the mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in more than…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: TORTURED DEFENDER TRIED BY SPECIAL COURT (Egypt: UA 16.20)
Human rights defender Patrick George Zaki was referred to trial by the Emergency State Security Court on charges of spreading “false news”, based on an article he wrote describing the…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: ACTIVIST MISSING AFTER SEIZURE BY ARMED MEN (Libya: UA 106.21)
Armed men abducted Mansour Atti, a journalist, blogger and head of the Red Crescent Committee and of the Civil Society Commission in Ajdabiya, on June 3, 2021 near his workplace…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: LAWYER’S 5-YEAR JAIL TERM UPHELD (Burundi: UA 92.21)
On September 29, 2021 the Court of Appeal of Ngozi upheld the conviction and five-year prison sentence of Burundian lawyer, Tony Germain Nkina. He was arrested on October 13, 2020…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER ARBITRARILY DETAINED (USA: UA 105.21)
On October 1, 2021 Steven Donziger, a lawyer and environmental rights defender who successfully represented victims of oil dumping in Ecuador, was sentenced to six months in prison on a…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: EXECUTION LOOMS FOR YOUTH ARRESTED AT 17 (Iran: UA 83.21)
Iranian young man Arman Abdolali is facing imminent execution for a crime that took place when he was 17 years old. After global outcries, Iranian authorities postponed his execution three…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: TWO ERITREANS RISK DEPORTATION FROM EGYPT (Egypt: UA 103.21)
Two Eritrean nationals, Alem Tesfay Abraham and Kibrom Adhanom Okbazghi have been arbitrarily detained without any legal basis or access to asylum procedures in Egypt since 2012 and 2013, respectively.…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: URGE CLEMENCY FOR NATIVE AMERICAN ACTIVIST (USA: UA 16.19)
Native American activist Leonard Peltier has been imprisoned in the USA for over 44 years, some of which was spent in solitary confinement, serving two life sentences for murder despite…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: VENEZUELAN DEFENDERS REMAIN UNDER ARREST (Venezuela: UA 75.21)
Javier Tarazona, Director of local NGO FundaREDES, Rafael Tarazona and Omar de Dios García, FundaREDES’ activists, were arbitrarily detained on July 2, 2021 after attempting to report harassment from security…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: MASS DEPORTATIONS MUST STOP (Mexico: UA 100.21)
Since August, authorities in Mexico have been conducting mass detentions and deportations of migrants and asylum seekers without taking measures to ensure that these individuals are not being returned to…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: THREE SYRIAN REFUGEES AT RISK OF DEPORTATION (Lebanon: UA 101.21)
Three Syrian refugees from Daraa governorate in southern Syria, Ahmad Al Waked, Tarek Al A’lo, and Fares Al Zo’bi, are at risk of forced deportation to Syria after General Security…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: REFUGEE MUST NOT BE FORCIBLY RETURNED TO UZBEKISTAN (Russian Federation: UA 102.21)
Valentina Chupik, a recognized refugee and migrant rights defender, has been held in the transit lounge at Sheremetevo airport in Moscow since September 25, 2021. She has been told that…