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: Member of Peace Agreement Body Detained (South Sudan: UA 105.20)
Kanybil Noon, a South Sudanese civil society activist in his 30s and a representative of civil society on the Strategic Defense and Security Review Board (SDSR) of the peace agreement,…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: 70 Year Old Uyghur Editor Held Incommunicado (China: UA 103.20)
Retired editor Qurban Mamut has not been seen or heard from by his son since November 2017. Qurban Mamut visited his son in the US in February 2017. His son,…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Stop Execution of Two Young Brothers (Belarus: UA 53.20)
On 22 May, the Supreme Court of Belarus upheld the death sentences of young brothers Stanislau and Illia Kostseu, aged 19 and 21 respectively. They have appealed to President Lukashenka…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: More Than 400 Rohingya People Stranded at Sea (Indonesia: UA 102.20)
As many as 400 Rohingya refugees are believed to be stranded at sea, with dozens of deaths having already been recorded. Fleeing violence in their home state, South and Southeast…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Torture Survivor Denied Covid-19 Support (Mexico: UA 101.20)
Adrian Vásquez Lagunes was diagnosed with COVID-19 on 16 June. He survived torture and 3 years unjust imprisonment in Tijuana (Northern Mexico). The authorities have failed to provide him with…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Fears of Abduction for Thai Activist in Exile (Cambodia: UA 96.20)
Wanchalearm Satsaksit, a Thai activist in exile, was reportedly abducted by unknown persons from outside his apartment building in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A known dissident in Thailand, who often exercised…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Activists Risk Jail for Poster Campaign (Poland: UA 97.20)
On 10 June, two Polish activists were charged with ‘theft and burglary’ in relation to a poster campaign accusing the government of manipulating COVID-19 statistics. If found guilty, they could…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Defender Receives Additional Protection (Mexico: UA 58.20)
Since we took action for Clemencia Adelaida Salas Salazar, women’s rights defender in Yucatán (South), she has not faced further attacks. In May 2020, the Mexican Protection Mechanism for Human…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Jailed Dual National Denied Dental Care (Iran: UA 66.20)
Dual British-Iranian national and retired engineer, Anoosheh Ashoori, is serving a lengthy prison sentence after a grossly unfair trial that relied on torture-tainted “confessions” to convict him of “cooperating with…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Attacks Against Indigenous Communities Investigated (Colombia: UA 70.20)
On 27 May, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Villavicencio (Central Colombia) sent four people from its Technical Investigation Body to the ASEINPOME community to investigate the threats the community has…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Asylum-Seekers Allowed to Disembark (Malta: UA 87.20)
Maltese authorities finally allowed the disembarkment of all asylum-seekers held on four ferry boats off Malta’s territorial waters in the night of 6-7 June. The approximately 425 asylum-seekers had been…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Uyghur Businessman Imprisoned in Secret Trial (China: UA 68.20)
Abuduaini Kadier, a Uyghur businessman who was secretly tried and sentenced to seven years in prison, is believed to have been detained in connection with a 2016 holiday he took…