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
11 BAHA’IS DISAPPEARED FOR MORE THAN 100 DAYS (YEMEN 60.23)
Share: On This Page On May 25, armed Huthi forces stormed a peaceful gathering of Baha’is in Sana’a, Yemen. They…
October 30, 2023
Urgent Action
URGENT ACTION: END PROTEST BAN ON GALATASARAY SQUARE (TURKEY 101.23)
Saturday Mothers/People, a group of relatives of victims of enforced disappearances and other human rights defenders are prevented from exercising…
October 30, 2023
Urgent Action
URGENT ACTION: HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER EXTRADITED AND DETAINED (CHINA 102.23)
Lu Siwei, a renowned Chinese human rights lawyer, is being held in the Xindu Detention Centre in Sichuan province, southwestern…
October 30, 2023
Urgent Action
URGENT ACTION: RESCIND EVACUATION ORDER AGAINST GAZA HOSPITALS (IOPT: 100.23)
On October 13, 23 hospitals in the north of the Gaza Strip and Gaza City received forced evacuation orders from…
October 26, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: CHILEAN PROSECUTOR MUST ACT AGAINST IMPUNITYÂ (CHILE: 91.23)
Starting on October 18, 2019, the period of social unrest in Chile left hundreds of victims of police violence. Four…
October 24, 2023
Urgent Action
URGENT ACTION: REPEAL AHA 2023 AND ENSURE ACCOUNTABILITY (UGANDA: 48.23)
On May 26, the Ugandan President assented to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023. The Act criminalizes same-sex conduct between consenting adults…
October 24, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: EXECUTION SET DESPITE UNRELIABLE TESTIMONYÂ (USA: 93.23)
Brent Brewer is scheduled to be executed in Texas on November 9, 2023. His 1991 death sentence was overturned in…
October 24, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: 11 BAHA’IS DISAPPEARED FOR MORE THAN 100 DAYS (Yemen: UA 60.23)
On May 25, armed Huthi forces stormed a peaceful gathering of Baha’is in Sana’a, Yemen. They detained and forcibly disappeared…
October 24, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: ARBITRARILY DETAINED CRITIC RISKS HARSH SENTENCE (Egypt: UA 89.23)
Hisham Kassem, a prominent Egyptian opposition politician and publisher, is facing a sentence of up to three years in prison…
September 29, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER MUST BE RELEASED (Egypt: UA 87.23)
Yemeni asylum seeker, Abdul-Baqi Saeed Abdo, who has been arbitrary detained in Egypt for over 20 months, is at risk…
September 27, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: STUDENT DETAINED FOR A YEAR FOR HOSTING WEBINAR (Bangladesh: UA 83.23)
Khadijatul Kubra was a 17-year-old meritorious student at Jagannath University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, when she hosted a webinar from an…
September 27, 2023
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: LAWYER AND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER JAILED (Guatemala 84.23
TAKE ACTION:Â Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or…
September 27, 2023