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! – Kachin Prisoner of Conscience Freed (Myanmar: UA 83.17)
Kachin prisoner of conscience Lahpai Gam has been released from prison following a Presidential amnesty on 17 April 2018. Detained since June 2012, he was tortured during interrogation and falsely…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Chinese Activist’s 8 Year Sentence Upheld (China: UA 129.15)
Prominent Chinese activist Wu Gan (better known by his pen name Tufu, ‘The Butcher’) continues to face grave risks of torture and other ill-treatment after the Tianjin Municipal High People’s…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Prisoner of Conscience Released on Bail (Kazakhstan: UA 63.18)
On 13 April, prisoner of conscience, Akmaral Tobylova was released on bail. She had been under house arrest since 13 March, and is charged with financing an extremist organization merely…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! – More Than Fifty Critics Released Without Charge (Sudan: UA 35.18)
56 opposition party members and human rights defenders arrested in January and February were released without charge on 10 April. They were arbitrarily arrested and detained by the Sudanese National…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! – Gazan’s Second Leg Saved From Being Amputated (Israel/OPT: UA 73.18)
On 16 April, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that 20-year-old journalist Yousef al-Kronz, who was seriously wounded by Israeli forces on 30 March during Land Day protests in the Gaza…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! – Two Government Critics Released (Ethiopia: UA 62.18)
Seyoum Teshome and Taye Dendea were released from Maekelawi prison on 16 April without being charged. The two had been arrested on 8 March and 15 March respectively.
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Student at Risk of Deportation to Afghanistan (Norway: UA 9.18)
18-year old student Taibeh Abbasi is at imminent risk of being deported to Afghanistan, a country she has never been to. Despite the rise in the number of civilian casualties…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Eleven People Freed After More than a Week in Jail (Ethiopia: UA 23.18)
Eleven people including a lawyer, journalists, bloggers, opposition members and academics were released on 5 April without being charged. The 11 had been arrested by Ethiopian security forces while attending…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: US Must Not Deport Gay Asylum Seeker to Ghana (USA: UA 65.18)
Sadat I. fled homophobic attacks from a criminal group in Ghana and has been held in US immigration detention since requesting asylum there in January 2016. US authorities are seeking…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! – Indigenous Defender No Longer Under Threat (Ecuador: UA 8.18)
Indigenous defender Patricia Gualinga is no longer considered under imminent threat. No new security incidents or threats against her have occurred since the 5 January attack at her home. She…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Activist with Disabilities Health Deteriorates (India: UA 131.14)
Activist and teacher, G N Saibaba, who is paralysed, continues to be denied access to adequate medical treatment in Nagpur Central Jail despite pleas of intervention from his family. Convicted…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Sudanese Activist at Imminent Risk of Deportation (Saudi Arabia: UA 60.18)
Sudanese political activist Husham Ali is at imminent risk of being deported from Saudi Arabia to Sudan, where he would be at serious risk of torture and other ill-treatment. He…