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: VENEZUELAN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER AND HER FAMILY ARRESTED (Venezuela 13.24)
Share: On This Page Rocío San Miguel, a well-known human rights defender, was arbitrarily detained on February 9, 2024, at the airport in Caracas, Venezuela. She is forcibly disappeared, resembling…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: SAUDI WOMAN IMPRISONED FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS TWEETS (Saudi Arabia 14.24)
On November 16, 2022, Saudi authorities arrested 29-year-old Manahel al-Otaibi. She has been forcibly disappeared since November 2023. She was charged with violating the AntiCyber Crime Law due to her…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: JOURNALIST THREATENED AND HARASSED (Malawi 11.24)
Journalist Gregory Gondwe has gone into hiding following his investigative report on the Malawi Defense Force’s dealings with a businessman who is under investigation for corruption. Following the publication of…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: SHAM MASS TRIAL OF 84 EMIRATI MEN ONGOING (UAE 120.23)
The unfair mass trial of 84 Emirati men, including human rights defenders and prisoners of conscience Ahmed Mansoor, Mohammed al-Roken, and Nasser bin Ghaith, on charges under an indictment that…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: PERSECUTION OF IMPRISONED UKRAINIAN CONTINUES (Russia 64.22)
Ukrainian citizen, Oleksandr Marchenko, imprisoned in Russia on fabricated charges of espionage, continues to be harassed and ill-treated in custody. The penal authorities have intermittently placed Oleksandr Marchenko in punishment…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: ISRAEL MUST ENSURE AID PROVISIONS REACH GAZA (IOPT 15.24)
On January 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that Palestinian civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip face a real and imminent risk of genocide. Pending its final ruling…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: ORGANIZATIONS NEED PROTECTION AGAINST THREATS (Colombia 12.24)
On February 1, a “public statement” was issued on behalf of the “High Command of the Magdalena Medio Block” of the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, threatening the lives of…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: INVESTIGATIONS ON THE DISAPPEARANCE OF STUDENTS AT RISK (Mexico 10.24)
The investigation of the 43 students’ disappearance on September 26, 2014, remains ongoing. Their relatives and the organizations that support them have requested on several occasions the government of Andrés…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: EDUCATION ACTIVISTS ARBITRARILY DETAINED (Afghanistan 9.24)
On October 17, 2023, Ahmad Fahim Azimi and Seddiqullah Afghan, two activists working with the education organization, Fekre Behtar, were arbitrarily arrested at their office in Karta Char, Kabul, the…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: KUWAITI BIDUN ACTIVIST SENTENCED ON APPEAL (Kuwait 7.24)
On January 31, 2024, a Kuwaiti Court of Appeal convicted and sentenced Mohammad al-Barghash, a defender of the rights of the stateless Bidun community in Kuwait, to three years in…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: EXECUTION SET DESPITE FAIR TRIAL CONCERNS (USA 6.24)
Ivan Cantu, a 50-year-old Hispanic man, is scheduled to be executed in Texas on February 28, 2024. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 2001 for a double murder…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: WOMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER AT RISK OF EXECUTION (Yemen 8.24)
Fatma al-Arwali, a 34-year-old human rights defender, is at risk of execution after the Huthi-controlled Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in Sana’a, Yemen, convicted her of ‘aiding an enemy country’ and…