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: CONCERNS ABOUT NAVALNY’S WHEREABOUTS (Russia 99.23)
Share: On This Page Aleksei Navalny’s fate and whereabouts have been unknown since his lawyers last heard of him on…
December 18, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: Spanish National Forcibly Disappeared by Russia (Russia 69.23)
Russian authorities have forcibly disappeared Mariano GarcÃa Calatayud, a 75-year-old Spanish volunteer humanitarian worker whom their forces had abducted from…
December 15, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: JURY VOTED FOR LIFE, STATE RESETS EXECUTION (USA 116.23)
Kenneth Smith is scheduled to be executed in Alabama on January 25, 2024. His jury voted for life imprisonment without…
December 15, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: JAILED ACADEMIC’S HEALTH DETERIORATES (Azerbaijan 77.23)
Gubad Ibadoghlu is a renowned political economist and civil activist. On July 23, 2023, the Azerbaijani authorities detained him on…
December 15, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: CLIMATE DISPLACED PEOPLE NEED A HOME URGENTLY (Mexico 108.23)
On November 13, 69 people from “El Bosque” community (Tabasco) were forced to leave a temporary shelter in Frontera Village…
December 14, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: UN EXPERTS ALARMED OVER IMPUNITY IN CHILE (Chile 91.23)
On November 27, 2023, UN special rapporteurs on peaceful assembly and association and on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions publicly…
December 14, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: UNJUSTLY HELD STUDENT DENIED PROSTHETIC LEGÂ (Egypt 110.23)
Oqba Hashad has been arbitrarily detained without trial for over four years and six months solely for his brother’s human…
December 14, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: VENEZUELAN DETAINEES’ LIFE AT RISK (Venezuela 96.23)
Emirlendris BenÃtez is a 42-year-old mother and tradeswoman who was arbitrarily detained in August 2018 and subjected to torture. Guillermo…
December 13, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: ARTIST SENTENCED TO SEVEN YEARS IN PRISON (Russia 36.22)
On November 16, 2023 Aleksandra Skochilenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for “disseminating knowingly false information about the…
December 13, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: IMPRISONED NURSE MAY FULLY LOSE HEARINGÂ (Russia 28.23)
Irina Danilovich, a nurse and human rights activist, was abducted by security officers in Russian-occupied Crimea in April 2022 and…
December 5, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: JAILED NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE’S HEALTH AT RISK (Iran 105.15)
Iranian authorities have been subjecting arbitrarily detained human rights defender and 2023 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Narges Mohammadi to torture…
December 1, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: STOP DEPORTING AFGHAN REFUGEES (Pakistan 109.23)
On October 3, 2023, the Pakistani government announced its decision to deport unregistered Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan by November…
November 29, 2023