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: Pastor’s Daughter Arbitrarily Detained (Rwanda: UA 174.19)
Jackie Umuhoza, daughter of exiled pastor Deo Nyirigira, was arrested on the morning of 27 November 2019 in Kigali, Rwanda. On 28 November, after her family and friends raised the…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Sentencing of Two Young Men Upheld (Russian Federation: UA 48.19)
On 10 December, a court of appeal upheld the conviction of human rights defenders from Rostov-on-Don, Yan Sidorov and Vladislav Mordasov, and confirmed their sentence to over six years in…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Human Rights Organization Threatened (Colombia: UA 143.19)
Since the beginning of November, members of dhColombia have been surveilled by unknown men outside their homes and office. dhColombia is an advocacy organization that provides legal support to victims…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Bill Restricting Abortion Rights Rejected (Slovakia: UA 167.19)
The Slovak Parliament rejected a bill aimed at obstructing access to safe and legal abortion. If adopted, this bill would have undermined women’s privacy and autonomy and subjected them to…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Photographer Abducted Outside His Home (Iraq: UA 170.19)
On 6 December 2019, 22-year-old Iraqi photographer Zaid Mohammed Abid al-Khafaji was abducted from the doorsteps of his house in Baghdad, Iraq, by four men in civilian clothes who dragged…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Family Seeking Asylum Returns Home Voluntarily (Sri Lanka: UA 80.19)
A Pakistani Catholic family, who arrived in Colombo seeking asylum in July 2013 when their lives were threatened, quietly returned to Pakistan in September. Arrested after overstaying their visa, members…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Representative’s Trial Started (Venezuela: UA 160.19)
The trial against Juan Requesens, Venezuelan Representative in the National Assembly who has been in pre-trial detention since his arbitrary detention on 7 August 2018, finally began on 2 December…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Viktar Paulau at Risk of Imminent Execution (Belarus: UA 168.19)
Viktar Paulau is at risk of imminent execution after the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence on 12 November. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases,…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Disappeared Qatari Father and Son Released (Saudi Arabia: UA 114.19)
On 1 November 2019, the Saudi authorities released two Qatari citizens, Ali Nasser Ali Jarallah (70) and his son Abdulhadi Ali Nasser Ali Jarallah (17), who then returned home to…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Torture of Rashitjon Kadirov Stopped (Uzbekistan: UA 44.19)
Former Prosecutor General of Uzbekistan, Rashitjon Kadirov, and 12 others stood trial from January to June 2019. There have been credible reports that Rashitjon Kadirov was subjected to torture and…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Free Author Ahmet Altan (Turkey: UA 166.19)
On 12 November, renowned Turkish author and former newspaper editor Ahmet Altan was detained after a court overturned the decision taken on 4 November to release him from over three…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Police Protect Transgender Rights March (Ukraine: UA 157.19)
On 23 November, adequate police protection enabled up to one hundred transgender rights activists in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, to hold the 2019 Trans March and mark Transgender Day of Remembrance.…