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 Victory! Government Confirms Funding for Women’s Rights (Mexico: UA 111.20)
On 23 April, the Mexican government suspended funding for different programs to attend the COVID-19 pandemic, including that of the Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Women Shelters (CAMIs). The government had not…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Conviction of Prisoners of Conscience Upheld (Russian Federation: UA 126.19)
The Russian Military Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of Crimean Tatar human rights defender Emir-Usein Kuku and his five co-defendants on 25 June. They are all prisoners of conscience,…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Opposition Leader Released from Prison (Cuba: UA 134.19)
After being in detention since October 2019, José Daniel Ferrer García was sent to house arrest in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, on April 2020, after a trial where he was…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Teacher and Protest Organizer Released on Bail (Iraq: UA 89.20)
On 30 May 2020, teacher and activist Badal Abdulbaqi Aba Bakr Barwari was released on bail. On 16 May 2020 armed members of local police as well as security forces…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Highest Court Upholds Death Sentences (Bahrain: UA 1.15)
On 13 July 2020, the Court of Cassation in Bahrain reaffirmed the death sentences of Mohamed Ramadhan and Hussain Moosa, despite evidence that the men were tortured during their interrogations.…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Detained Lawyer Denied Adequate Health Care (Egypt: UA 107.19)
Human rights lawyer and former parliamentarian, Zyad el-Elaimy, is being denied adequate health care by the Tora prison authorities, amid concerns that his underlying medical conditions put him at particular…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Human Rights Defender’s Life at Risk of Covid-19 (Iran: UA 105.15)
Imprisoned Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, who suffers from serious pre-existing health conditions, is showing suspected COVID-19 symptoms. The authorities are putting her health and life at risk by…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Journalist Convicted But Given Lenient Sentence (Russian Federation: UA 42.20)
Russian journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva was found guilty of “justification of terrorism” and fined 500,000 roubles (about $7,000) on 6 July. The court rejected the prosecutor’s request to imprison her for…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Activist Released from Psychiatric Hospital (Azerbaijan: UA 104.20)
Opposition activist Agil Humbatov was released from a psychiatric hospital in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, on 1 July. He was forcibly placed there on 2 April after he criticized the authorities’…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Man Executed for Crime When He Was 18 (USA: UA 108.20)
Billy Wardlow was executed on 8 July 2020. He was on death row in Texas, USA in connection with the 1993 murder of an 82-year-old man when he was just…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Monitoring of Threats to Lawmakers Continues (Venezuela: UA 1.20)
Venezuelan National Assembly opposition members, as well as their families and staff, continue being subjected to threats and attacks from Maduro’s government. During the COVID-19-related state of emergency, attacks against…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Protect Human Rights Defender at Risk (Colombia: UA 67.20)
On 2 July, the Inter-Ecclesiastic Commission of Justice and Peace received confidential information about an ongoing plan to kill the Human Rights Defender Jani Silva. The plan is allegedly run…