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: Harassment of Journalists Continues (France: UA 70.19)
Seven investigative journalists have been summoned since February for questioning by the Intelligence Services after the Paris Prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation against them for revealing a national defense…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Online Activist Sentenced to One Year in Prison (Côte d’Ivoire: UA 14.19)
Ivoirian online activist, Soro Tangboho alias Carton Noir was sentenced to one year in prison for ‘disturbing the public order’ and ‘incitement to xenophobia’ on 7 June 2019. He was…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Human Rights Defenders Face Brutal Crackdown (Philippines: UA 54.19)
On 22 April, Cristina Palabay of Philippines-based human rights alliance Karapatan received a text message from an unidentified person, sent to her personal number, warning her and several other individuals…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Asylum Seekers at Risk of Mass Detentions (Mexico: UA 84.19)
Simultaneous to negotiations between the USA and Mexico around possible tariffs on Mexican goods, hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers were detained on Mexico’s southern border on the highway near…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Incommunicado Detainee at Risk of Torture (United Arab Emirates: UA 75.19)
Lebanese detainee Ahmad Ali Mekkaoui has been held incommunicado since 11 April 2019. He is at heightened risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Ahmad Ali Mekkaoui is serving a 15-year…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Defamation Charges for Exposing Labor Abuse (Thailand: UA 73.19)
Human rights defenders, activists, journalists and former employees are facing criminal defamation lawsuits for their public comments on labor rights abuses faced by many workers at Thammakaset Co. Ltd, a…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Prisoner of Conscience Tortured to Confess (Viet Nam: UA 72.19)
Journalist and human rights defender Nguyen Van Hoa was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison in December 2017 for reporting on the 2016 Formosa environmental disaster in central…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Defamation Charges Used to Silence Dissent (Thailand: UA 71.19)
Police have charged prominent activists Parit ‘Penguin’ Chiwarak, Sirawit ‘Ja New’ Seritiwat, and Phayaw Akkahad with defamation by publication under Article 328 of the Thai Criminal Code which carries a…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Constant Surveillance Impacts Lawyer’s Health (China: UA 141.17)
Human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong remains under heavy surveillance, despite having been released from prison in February 2019. The ongoing interference by authorities has meant that he is unable to…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Human Rights Defender Fears for Safety (Haiti: UA 66.19)
On April 26, two unknown men on motorbikes, presumably belonging to a local gang, circled the office of Pierre Espérance (fourth from the left in the image below), a prominent…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Human Rights Defender Released (Morocco: UA 76.18)
On 5 April 2019, human rights defender Zine El Abidine Erradi was released after serving a one-year sentence in Agadir local prison, following an unfair trial. Zine El Abidine holds…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Journalist Officially Charged with Cyber Libel (Philippines: UA 20.19)
Maria Ressa, human rights defender and executive editor of online news outlet Rappler, was formally charged in court on 14 May for one count of cyber libel. Arrested on 13…