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 Victory! Three Journalists Released After Charges Dropped (Myanmar: UA 159.17)
Former prisoners of conscience Lawi Weng, Aye Nai and Pyae Phone Aung have had the charge against them dropped following…
September 20, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Activist Released After Charges Dropped (Myanmar: UA 73.17)
Activist Htin Kyaw was released from prison after the Myanmar Army announced on 1 September 2017 that all charges against…
September 20, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Offices Of Human Rights Defenders Attacked (Indonesia: UA 215.17)
Staff of the Indonesian and Jakarta Legal Institutes were threatened by violent ‘anti-communist’ protesters outside their offices. The organizations have…
September 19, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Juvenile Offender At Risk Of Imminent Execution (Saudi Arabia: UA 209.16)
An appeal court has upheld the death sentence against Abdulkareem al-Hawaj, a Shi’a man who was convicted of offences committed…
September 18, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Trade Unionist In Need Of Medical Care (Iran: UA 306.13)
Iranian trade unionist Reza Shahabi was forced to return to prison on 9 August, prompting him to go on hunger…
September 18, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Detained Opposition Activist Denied Lawyer Visits (Sudan: UA 213.17)
Nabil Mohamed El-Niwari, a Sudanese political activist and member of the opposition party Sudan Congress, was arrested by the Sudanese…
September 15, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Religious Minority Leader Released But Still At Risk (Algeria: UA 205.17)
On 13 September the Court of First Instance in Ain Tedles, Algeria convicted and sentenced President of the Ahmadiyya religious…
September 14, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Activists Held Incommunicado May Face Life In Prison (Viet Nam: UA 204.17)
Three Vietnamese activists, Trương Minh Đức, Nguyễn Trung Tôn, and Phạm Văn Trội, are being held incommunicado at B14 prison…
September 8, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: US National Sentenced To Death In Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia: UA 188.17)
US national Robert Slaten was sentenced to death on 13 July in Saudi Arabia on appeal. A court convicted him…
September 8, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Palestinian Circus Performer Released (Israel/OPT: UA 12.16)
On 12 June, Ofer Military Court, in the occupied West Bank near Ramallah, renewed the administrative detention order of Mohammad…
September 7, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Saudi Arabian Prisoner Of Conscience On Trial (Saudi Arabia: UA 35.15)
Saudi Arabian activist Issa al-Nukheifi was brought to trial before the counter-terror court on 21 August, where he first learned…
September 7, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Security Measures For Defender Implemented (Mexico: UA 169.17)
In recent weeks authorities have implemented some security measures for Mario Luna, human rights defender and leader of the Indigenous…
September 6, 2017