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: German-Iranian Dissident Arbitrarily Jailed (Iran: UA 41.21)
Jamshid Sharmahd, a 66-year-old German-Iranian political dissident, is at risk of being convicted in a grossly unfair trial and sentenced to death. He has been arbitrarily detained in Iran for…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Women Migrant Workers Detained for Months (Sri Lanka: UA 39.21)
At least 41 Sri Lankan women migrant workers have been detained in Saudi Arabia for as long as 18 months. Three women have young children with them, and one woman…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Free Saudi Activist Nassima Al-Sada (Saudi Arabia: UA 21.19)
In March 2021, the Court of Appeals in Riyadh upheld the verdict of Saudi Arabian woman human rights defender Nassima al-Sada, confirming the final sentence of a five-year prison term…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: VOTE ON URGENT TREATMENT OF SECURITY BILL (Brazil: UA 40.21)
Any day from April 14, 2021 on the National Congress could vote a requirement to process the bill nº 6.764/2002 on National Security Issues as an urgent matter and without…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Health of Death Row Prisoner in Sharp Decline (Pakistan: UA 27.21)
The health of Shafqat Emmanuel, who faces execution, along with his wife Shagufta Kausar, is rapidly deteriorating. Shafqat’s lower body is paralyzed, which means he relies on the help of…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Protect Human Rights Defender at Risk (Colombia: UA 38.21)
On March 24, 2021 the Santander’s (North) Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights (CREDHOS in Spanish) received a threatening call from a unknown man self-identified as member of…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Two HongKongers Remain Incommunicado in China (China: UA 141.20)
Quinn Moon and Tang Kai-yin, two of the 12 Hongkongers arrested in August 2020 by the Chinese coast guard and sentenced on December 30, 2020 without a fair trial, have…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: ALEKSEI NAVALNY’S HEALTH AND LIFE IN DANGER (Russian Federation: UA 6.21)
Prominent Russian opposition figure and anti-corruption campaigner Aleksei Navalny was arbitrarily arrested on January 17, 2021 after recovering from being poisoned. He was subsequently sentenced to two and a half…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Human Rights Defender Gets 3 Year Jail Term (Chad: UA 7.20)
On 18 February, Chad’s Criminal Court sentenced human rights defender Baradine Berdei Targuio to three years in prison and a fine for ‘breach of the constitutional order’. He was arrested…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Detained Journalist Facing Trial (Morocco: UA 136.20)
On March 23, 2021, an investigative judge set April 6 as the first trial date for Moroccan investigative journalist and vocal critic Omar Radi, who has been held in pre-trial…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Family Members Detained on Fabricated Charges (Russian Federation: UA 20.21)
On March 17, 2021, the NGO Russian LGBT Network reported that lawyers were finally allowed to visit Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev in a remand facility in Chechnya’s capital Grozny.…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES FACE DISPOSESSION (Malaysia: UA 23.20)
The Selangor Forestry Department has not responded to the more than 45,000 objections from Indigenous peoples, Malaysian citizens, and local representatives to the proposed removal of “forest reserve” status of…