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?
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/amnestyusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
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.
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/amnestyusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/amnestyusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/amnestyusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/amnestyusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
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.
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/amnestyusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/amnestyusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/amnestyusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/amnestyusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
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: Stateless Palestinian Released on Bail (Israel/OPT: UA 41.19)
On 24 October 2019, Palestinian photojournalist Mustafa al-Kharouf was released after spending nine months in an Israeli prison. He still does not have legal status and is at risk of…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: No Contact With Abducted Politician for Months (Libya: UA 138.19)
On 17 July 2019, Libyan parliamentarian and prominent women’s rights defender Siham Sergiwa was brutally abducted from her home in Benghazi by armed gunmen, after publicly criticizing the self-proclaimed Libyan…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Drop Charges Against Human Rights Defenders (USA: UA 69.19)
On 17 January 2018, US Border Patrol agents arrested Dr. Scott Warren, a Human Rights Defender and humanitarian aid volunteer. The US Department of Justice prosecuted him on two counts…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Human Rights Defender at Risk (Colombia: UA 142.19)
On 2 October, neighbors informed Luz Marina Arteaga, a defender for the rights of rural communities in the Meta department, in central Colombia, that her house is under continuous surveillance…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Researchers Who Denounced Electoral Fraud at Risk (Bolivia: UA 141.19)
On 24 October, Edgar Villegas, systems engineer and analyst, denounced irregularities in Bolivia’s general elections of 20 October on public TV. His study done with other academics pointed to large…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Abuse of Jailed Activists Must Stop (Iran: UA 11.19)
Imprisoned labor rights activist Sepideh Gholian and her family are suffering constant abuse and harassment by ministry of intelligence officials and prison authorities. Sepideh Gholian and fellow activist Esmail Bakhshi…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Medical Doctor Found Alive But Tortured (Zimbabwe: UA 124.19)
On 19 September 2019, Dr Peter Magombeyi, a medical doctor, was found alive and disoriented, dumped about 33 km out of Harare in a placed called Nyabira. Dr Magombeyi was…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Tunisian Activist Acquitted of All Charges (Tunisia: UA 125.19)
On 19 September 2019, a court in Tunis acquitted 18-year-old activist Maissa al-Oueslati of all charges after facing trumped-up charges that could have resulted in her imprisonment for up to…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Missing Human Rights Defender Believed Killed (Burundi: UA 136.19)
In a report published on 13 September 2019, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi indicated that Marie-Claudette Kwizera, a human rights defender and treasurer of Ligue Iteka, a leading…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Prisoner of Conscience Attacked in Prison (Viet Nam: UA 135.19)
Aquatic engineer Nguyen Ngoc Anh, sentenced to six years in prison for peacefully expressing his disagreement with government policies, was physically assaulted in prison by a fellow prisoner. Despite serious…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Papuan Activists Face Maximum Life Imprisonment (Indonesia: UA 130.19)
Six political activists have been arrested in Jakarta, Indonesia after peacefully campaigning for the right to self-determination of Papua. Charged with “rebellion” (makar), the six Papuan activists are prisoners of…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Ahmed H. Allowed to Return Home (Cyprus: UA 88.19)
Ahmed H. was finally able to return home to his family in Cyprus on 28 September. He had been separated from his Cypriot wife and two daughters for almost four…