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 Victory! Asia Bibi Leaves Pakistan for Canada a Free Woman (Pakistan: UA 192.18)
Asia Bibi is a Christian farm worker, who was sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010. After an eight-year ordeal, Pakistan’s Supreme Court acquitted her of all charges and released…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Clampdown on Freedom of Expression (Puerto Rico: 87.18)
Puerto Rico authorities responded violently to demonstrations on 1 May 2018 by repressing protesters and violating their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. With more demonstrations planned, peaceful protesters…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Prisoner Dies of Cancer in Detention (United Arab Emirates: UA 26.19)
On 4 May 2019, Alia Abdelnoor Mohamed Abdelnoor, who was in the terminal stages of cancer, died while chained to a bed in the Tawam hospital in the Al-Ain Emirate,…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Stop Harassment of Human Rights Activist (Poland: UA 62.19)
On 6 May at around 6am the police raided the home of prominent human rights defender Elżbieta Podleśna, arrested her and kept her in detention for several hours. The police…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Ahwazi Arab Men at Risk of Execution (Iran: UA 61.19)
Abdullah Karmollah Chab and Ghassem Abdullah, from Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority, are facing the death penalty following a grossly unfair trial. “Confessions” they have said were obtained under torture and…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Fears of Activist’s Enforced Disappearance (Bangladesh: UA 60.19)
Indigenous rights activist Michael Chakma has been missing since 9 April 2019, when he was on his way to Dhaka from Kanchpur in Naryanganj. An organizer of a Chittagong Hill…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Prisoner of Conscience Released (Algeria: UA 117.18)
On 7 March 2019, Algerian blogger and prisoner of conscience Merzoug Touati was released. On 4 March 2019, an Algerian court issued a new verdict reducing Marzoug Touati’s sentence from…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Reuters Journalists Released in Prisoner Amnesty (Myanmar: UA 4.18)
Two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have been granted a presidential pardon and released from prison after serving more than 500 days of their seven year sentences…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Families at Risk of Forced Eviction (Colombia: UA 57.19)
18 people residing in a sports facility temporary shelter since a flooding devastated their homes in April 2018 are at risk of forced eviction in Ituango, Colombia, after receiving a…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Activist Released After Being Rearrested (Azerbaijan: UA 42.19)
Azerbaijani activist Bayram Mammadov was released on 29 April after having spent 30 days in administrative detention under trumped-up accusations.
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Stop Prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Russian Federation: UA 29.19)
The criminal proceedings against Jehovah’s Witnesses Artur Severinchik, Yevgeniy Fedin and Sergei Loginov under “counter-extremism” legislation are ongoing. They are being persecuted for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Apaa Communities Attacked, Forcibly Evicted (Uganda: UA 96.18)
Since 3 January, rangers from the Uganda Wildlife Authority have been carrying out forced evictions of communities in the Apaa area in northern Uganda. They have burnt homes, looted property…