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 Update: FARMERS FACE TRIAL AMID ENVIRONMENTAL WORK (Indonesia: UA 23.21)
Syamsul Bahri and Samsir, father and son from a farmer community in North Sumatra province, are to be tried over a criminal charge that is feared to have been fabricated…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: CRITICAL CHANCE TO DECRIMINALIZE ABORTION (Dominican Republic: UA 36.21)
From March 24, 2021 members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic’s Congress will begin to discuss a reform of the country’s criminal code, including the possibility of…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Verdict Upheld Against Loujain al-Hathloul (Saudi Arabia: UA 13.21)
On March 10, 2021, the Specialized Criminal Court in Saudi Arabia upheld the conviction of Saudi woman human rights defender Loujain al-Hathloul, confirming a sentence of five years and eight…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Four Ahwazi Arab Men Secretly Executed (Iran: UA 69.20)
Ali Khasraji, Hossein Silawi, Jasem Heidary and Naser Khafajian, from Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority, were executed in secret in Sepidar prison on February 28, 2021. The Iranian authorities are concealing…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: LIFE OF HUNGER-STRIKING PRISONER AT RISK (Belarus: UA 35.21)
Punk musician, Ihar Bantsar, has been on a hunger strike since March 3, 2021 to protest against his prolonged detention on trumped-up criminal charges. He has been imprisoned solely for…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Spike in violent attacks on human rights defenders (Afghanistan: UA 118.20)
A killing machine has been unleashed on us, and it looks like every other person we meet on road”, Afghan human rights defenders (HRDs) said as they continue to struggle…
Urgent Action
URGENT ACTION: RELEASE ACTIVIST AND END PROSECUTION (Russia: UA 34.21)
On March 3, 2021 the Nizhnii Novgorod Regional Court, in Central Russia, upheld the decision to detain activist Mikhail Iosilevich. He is accused of cooperation with an “undesirable” organization, Open…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Free Journalist Jailed for Covering Protests (Somalia: UA 32.21)
Kilwe Adan Farah, a freelance journalist, has been in detention in the Puntland regional state of Somalia since 27 December 2020, when he was arrested after covering protests against government…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Cartoonist Tortured; Writer Dies in Jail (Bangladesh: UA 29.21)
Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore and writer Mushtaq Ahmed were detained in May 2020 for posting on Facebook satirical cartoons and comments critical of the Bangladeshi government’s response to the COVID-19…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Human Rights Defender Transferred to Brazil (Mozambique: UA 132.20)
Following a long defamatory and intimidatory campaign against Bishop Lisboa and his human rights work in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, the Pope Francis announced the transfer of Bishop Lisboa to Brazil…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Activist Detained for Reporting Torture (China: UA 31.21)
Prominent human rights defender Li Qiaochu was taken away by police on 6 February 2021, shortly before the Lunar New Year. According to a detention notice her parents were asked…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Four Bahraini Minors Tried as Adults (Bahrain: UA 30.21)
Four minors are on trial in Bahrain before Branch Four of the High Criminal Court, a court specializing in terror-related cases, on charges including arson and handling Molotov cocktails. At…