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 Update: Detained Rohingya Child Dies In Custody (Myanmar: UA 10.17)
The confirmed death in custody of a child detained in November 2016 in northern Rakhine State as part of “clearance…
June 22, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Death Threat For Human Rights Lawyer And Family (Viet Nam: UA 149.17)
Human rights lawyer Lê Quốc Quân has received warnings from Việt Nam’s Ministry of Public Security officials that he and…
June 22, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Minority Rights Journalist Attacked And Injured (Pakistan: UA 147.17)
Pakistani minority rights journalist Rana Tanweer faced an assassination attempt on 9 June. He was attacked in a hit and…
June 19, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Opposition Politician Released (Maldives: UA 143.17)
Opposition politician Adam Azim has been released after spending nearly a week in detention in Maldives. He was arrested and…
June 16, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Sentence Confirmed On Saudi Arabian Writer (Saudi Arabia: UA 41.17)
Saudi Arabian writer Nazeer al-Majed was informed on 15 May that the Court of Appeal of the Specialized Criminal Court…
June 16, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: University Students Arrested After Protest (India: UA 145.17)
Eight university students and three members of a political party’s student wing in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh have been in detention…
June 15, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Exiled Journalist Receiving Death Threats Online (Lesotho: UA 142.17)
Exiled investigative journalist Keiso Mohloboli has been receiving death threats and intimidation online after publishing a Facebook post.
June 14, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Release Amnesty International Chair Taner Kılıç (Turkey: UA 138.17)
Chair of Amnesty International Turkey Taner Kılıç was detained on 6 June, wrongly accused of membership of the “Fethullahist Terrorist…
June 12, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Victory! Torture Survivor Released In Chechnya (Belarus: UA 132.17)
Murad Amriev was handed over to Russian law enforcement officers at 3am on 9 June after having been returned from…
June 12, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Two Boys Jailed For Life After Unfair Trial (Somalia: UA 96.17)
Two boys have been imprisoned for life for murder. The boys say they were forced to confess to the murder.
June 12, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Indigenous Defenders Attacked And At Risk (Guatemala: UA 135.17)
Aura Lolita Chávez, a renowned Guatemalan human rights defender and Indigenous leader, and members of her organization the K’iche People’s…
June 9, 2017
Urgent Action
Urgent Action Update: Two Sudanese Activists At Risk Of Deportation (Saudi Arabia: UA 9.17)
Sudanese activists Elgassim Mohamed Seed Ahmed and Elwaleed Imam Hassan Taha are at imminent risk of deportation from Saudi Arabia…
June 8, 2017