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/thinkwp-aiusa/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/thinkwp-aiusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/thinkwp-aiusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/thinkwp-aiusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/thinkwp-aiusa/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/thinkwp-aiusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/thinkwp-aiusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/thinkwp-aiusa/assets/images/default-image.png)
![](https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/themes/thinkwp-aiusa/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: Indigenous Defender Killed, Others at Risk (Mexico: UA 103.18)
Indigenous environmental rights defender Manuel Gaspar Rodríguez was found dead on 14 May in Cuetzalan, Puebla state. He was one of a number of defenders facing criminal investigation for their…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Men Convicted for Exercising Freedom of Speech (Somaliland: UA 92.18)
Mohamed Kayse Mohamoud and Boqor Osman aw Muhamed Mohamed have been convicted for publicly exercising their rights to the freedom of expression.
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Serious Health Concerns For Prisoner of Conscience (Viet Nam: UA 101.18)
Trần Anh Kim was convicted and sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment for “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the Peoples’ administration” in 2016. At 69 years of age, his health…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Forcibly Married, Raped Girl Sentenced to Death (Sudan: UA 95.18)
Nineteen year old, Noura Hussein Hamad Daoud, was sentenced to death on 10 May for killing her husband in self-defense after he tried to rape her for a second time.…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Up to 20 Years in Prison on Trumped-Up Charges (Maldives: UA 91.18)
Ahmed Mahloof faces charges of “terrorism” and “obstruction of police duty” for taking part in peaceful protests, along with charges of “false reporting” for two tweets about the police service.…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! – Pride March No Longer at Risk (Turkey: UA 83.18)
The student-organized Pride march gathering hundreds of university students went ahead peacefully on 11 May on the Ankara-based Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ), despite attempts from the university and Ankara…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Guantánamo Transfer Policy Under Wraps (USA: UA 42.18)
The US Secretary of Defense has sent the White House his policy recommendations on detainee transfers to Guantánamo. The details have not been made public. Meanwhile, the first detainee transfer…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! – Activist’s Not-Guilty Verdict Upheld on Appeal (South Korea: UA 20.17)
Lee Jin-young, operator of the online library ‘Labour Books’, was found not guilty of charges under the National Security Law at the Seoul High Court on 11 April 2018. This…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Civil Activist Released from Psychiatric Facility (Kazakhstan: UA 82.18)
Ardak Ashym, a 52-year-old blogger and civil activist from Shymkent, south Kazakhstan, has been released from the psychiatric facility where she had been detained since 31 March. The criminal investigation…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! – Israeli Government Stops Forced Deportations (Israel/OPT: UA 64.18)
The Israeli government has declared that it will not pursue forcible deportations of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum-seekers to third countries under the Israeli ‘Procedure for Deportation to Third Countries’. This…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Five Years Imprisonment and Fine for Facebook Post (Indonesia: UA 86.18)
Alnoldy Bahari has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for Facebook posts deemed to be insulting of Islam and for allegedly spreading ‘hate speech’ under the country’s repressive Electronic Information…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Two Afro-Descendant Defenders Criminalized (Colombia: UA 85.18)
Sara Quiñonez and her mother Tulia Maria Valencia, community leaders and human rights defenders from Alto Mira and Frontera in the municipality of Tumaco, have been unjustly detained and accused…