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: ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER MUST BE PARDONED (USA 55.24)
Steven Donziger, a lawyer and environmental rights defender who successfully represented victims of oil dumping in Ecuador by oil company,…
June 13, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: ONGOING CRIMINALIZATION AGAINST LGBT+ ACTIVIST (Argentina 3.24)
Share: On This Page Pierina Nochetti, a lesbian human rights activist, faces criminal charges for allegedly painting graffiti protesting the…
June 10, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: ARBITRARILY DETAINED AUTHOR MUST BE RELEASED (Mali 49.24)
On May 20, 2024, Etienne Fakaba Sissoko, a Malian economist and university professor, was convicted on charges of defamation, damaging…
June 10, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: RULING IN SHAM MASS TRIAL SET FOR JULY 10 (UAE 120.23)
The tenth and final session in the grossly unfair trial of 84 Emirati men, including human rights defenders and prisoners…
June 10, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: FREE PROMINENT OPPOSITION LEADER (Azerbaijan 38.20)
On December 14, 2023, the Azerbaijani authorities arrested a prominent opposition figure and unrelenting government critic, Tofig Yagublu, on spurious…
June 4, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER’S WHEREABOUTS UNKNOWN (Equatorial Guinea 21.24)
Anacleto Micha Ndong, an Equatoguinean human rights defender, was sent to the Malabo prison of Black Beach on pre-trial detention…
June 3, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: URGE PAROLE FOR NATIVE AMERICAN ACTIVIST (USA 16.19)
Native American activist Leonard Peltier (Bureau of Prisons Register Number 89637-132) has been imprisoned in the USA for nearly 50…
May 28, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: JOURNALIST AND POET ABDUCTED IN PAKISTAN (Pakistan 46.24)
On May 15, 2024, Ahmad Farhad, a Kashmiri journalist and poet, was forcibly disappeared from his home in the capital…
May 28, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: OVER 100 INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ARBITRARILY ARRESTED (Bangladesh 48.24)
Since April 7, over 100 Indigenous Bawm people have been arbitrarily arrested as part of an ongoing military operation in…
May 24, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: RISK OF PROTEST-RELATED EXECUTIONS AFTER UNFAIR TRIALS (Iran 103.22)
At least eight individuals in Iran are under sentence of death in connection with the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising of…
May 23, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: LAWYER ARRESTED OVER PUBLIC REMARKS (Tunisia 43.24)
On May 11, 2024, security forces, masked and in civilian clothing stormed the Bar Association offices in Tunis to arrest…
May 20, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: EXECUTION RISK FOR TORTURED DISSIDENT RAPPER (Iran 44.24)
Dissident rapper, Toomaj Salehi, is at risk of execution after a Revolutionary Court in Esfahan sentenced him to death in…
May 20, 2024