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?
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.
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.
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.
Browse Urgent Actions
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Activists’ Whereabouts Unknown After Arrest (Democratic Republic of Congo: UA 196.18)
Activists Arsene Katolo, Alain Muwaka, Oto Shaminga, Heritier Losomba, Miko Booto, Enoch Muanda and Mwanza are being held incommunicado at an unknown location in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: NGOs at Risk of Shut Down (India: UA 194.18)
Amnesty India and Greenpeace India have been targeted by the Government of India in a series of ‘raids’, which appear to be politically motivated. The bank accounts of both organisations…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Health of Prisoner of Conscience Critical (Viet Nam: UA 195.18)
Nguyá»…n Văn Túc health is quickly deteriorating to the point where he is fainting on a daily basis, yet the authorities continue to deny him adequate medical treatment and have…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Prison Sentence Upheld for Mosque Noise Complaint (Indonesia: UA 161.18)
The High Court has upheld the 18-month prison sentence for Meliana who was convicted of blasphemy after complaining about the loudspeaker volume at a local mosque. Preparation for an appeal…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: 80-Year-Old Egyptian’s Death Sentence Upheld (Egypt: UA 193.18)
On 24 September 2018, the Court of Cassation upheld the death sentence of Sheikh Abdel Halim Gabreel – an 80-year-old Quran tutor – in one of Egypt’s largest mass trials…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Twelve Men at Imminent Risk of Execution (Saudi Arabia: UA 182.17)
The families of 12 Saudi Arabian men sentenced to death after a grossly unfair mass trial fear that their relatives could be executed imminently, as their cases were transferred from…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! President Pardons Two Men Sentenced to Death (South Sudan: UA 240.17)
James Gatdet and William Endley received a presidential pardon on 31 October 2018. The president also ordered the immediate deportation of William Endley to his home country, South Africa. They…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Life Sentence for Bahraini Opposition Leader (Bahrain: UA 22.15)
On 4 November 2018, the Bahraini Appeal Court sentenced opposition leader and prisoner of conscience, Sheikh Ali Salman, to life imprisonment. The court overturned an earlier acquittal, and convicted him…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Two Missing Prisoners Found; Torture Fears Remain (Russian Federation: UA 145.18)
After weeks of uncertainty about the fate and whereabouts of IT specialist Victor Filinkov and civil society activist Yuliy Boyarshinov, on 31 October the two men were confirmed to being…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Human Rights Defender Brutally Attacked (Equatorial Guinea: UA 189.18)
Alfredo Okenve, an Equatorial Guinea human rights defender was brutally attacked on 27 October by unknown armed men. He was later abandoned in a lonely area outside the city of…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Students’ Trial Ongoing, Despite Apology to Erdogan (Turkey: UA 131.18)
Share: On This Page We have received updated information regarding this case and require no further action from the Urgent Action Network. Thank you to all those who sent appeals.…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Indigenous Environmental Rights Defender Killed (Mexico: UA 187.18)
Julián Carrillo was shot death on 24 October, after receiving several death threats for his work defending the territory of his Indigenous community in Mexico. He is the latest death…