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.
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: PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE ON HUNGER STRIKE (Bahrain 100.22)
Share: On This Page Paragraph Formats Danish-Bahraini human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja (aged 62) has been on a water-only hunger strike since 9 August to protest his continued arbitrary detention…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER MUST BE RELEASED (Egypt: UA 80.23)
Since his arrest on 10 September 2017, Egyptian authorities have arbitrarily detained Ibrahim Metwaly, human rights lawyer and co-founder of the Families of the Disappeared in Egypt group, who was…
Urgent Action
Since his arrest on 10 September 2017, Egyptian authorities have arbitrarily detained Ibrahim Metwaly, human rights lawyer and co-founder of the Families of the Disappeared in Egypt group, who was…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: RELEASE TERMINALLY ILL PALESTINIAN PRISONER (IOPT: (UA 78.23)
Walid Daqqah is a terminally ill Palestinian prisoner who was diagnosed with a rare case of bone marrow cancer. His health condition has been exacerbated by numerous instances of medical…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: EXECUTION IMINENT IN TORTURE TAINTED CASE (Vietnam: UA 79.23)
TAKE ACTION: Please take action as-soon-as possible. This Urgent Action expires on November 10th, 2021. Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: EGYPTIAN-BRTISH ACTIVIST STILL UNJUSTLY JAILED (Egypt 132.19)
Egyptian-British prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah remains arbitrarily detained in Wadi al-Natrun prison and denied access to consular visits. On July 20th, human rights lawyer Mohamed Baker was released after…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: 11 BAHA’IS FORCIBLY DISAPPEARED AT GREAT RISK (Yemen: UA 60.23)
On May 25th 2023, armed Huthi forces stormed a peaceful gathering of Baha’is in Sana’a, Yemen. They detained and forcibly disappeared 17 individuals, among them five women. One individual has…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: ACADEMIC, CRITICAL OF GOVERNMENT, DETAINED (Azerbaijan: UA 77.2
Gubad Ibadoghlu, a renowned political economist and civil activist, was detained on July 23rd, 2023 on fabricated charges of the production, acquisition, or sale of counterfeit money by an organized…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: JAILED SON OF POLITICIAN DENIED FAMILY VISITS (Egypt: UA 29.23)
Anas al-Beltagy, who has been denied any contact with his family for six years, continues to be barred from prison visits, following his transfer from the Badr 1 Prison to…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: CUBA: PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE MAYKEL OSORBO IN DANGER (Cuba: UA 76.23
Maykel Castillo Pérez, also known as “Maykel Osorbo” is a Cuban musician and prisoner of conscience who has faced constant harassment and arbitrary detentions. On May 18, 2021, state security…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER DETAINED FOR PROTESTING (Argentina: UA
Alberto Nallar, human rights lawyer who played a very active role in the protests in the Jujuy Province that began on June 15th, was detained on July 13th and charged…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: YOUTH UNJUSTLY JAILED IN RELATION TO PROTEST (Egypt: UA 73.23)
Badr Mohamed is serving an unjust five-year prison sentence following his conviction in January 2023 in connection to the Ramsis Square protests on 16 August 2013, when he was 17…