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.
Browse Urgent Actions
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: PROTESTER RISKS DECADES IN PRISON FOR T-SHIRT (Egypt 90.23)
Share: On This Page Arbitrarily detained protester Mahmoud Hussein faces up to 25 years in prison simply for wearing a T-shirt with an anti-torture slogan back in January 2014. He…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: DISAPPEARANCES STRATEGY PUTS SEARCH AT RISK (Mexico 1.24)
On December 14, 2023, president of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador and representatives of the Ministry of the Interior shared the results of the Disappeared Persons Search Strategy. This strategy…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: LAST CHARGE AGAINST LEILA DE LIMA CONTINUES (Philippines 48.22)
Court proceedings on the third and final bogus charge against human rights defender and former Philippine senator, Leila de Lima, are resuming in March, or four months after she was…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: POLITICIANS UNJUSTLY HELD FOR OVER A YEAR (Tunisia 52.23)
Opposition politicians Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, Khayyam Turki, Issam Chebbi, Ghazi Chaouachi, Ridha Belhaj, and Abdelhamid Jelassi have been arbitrarily detained since February 2023 on unfounded “conspiracy against state security” accusations.…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: THREE INDIVIDUALS CRIMINALISED FOR POSTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA (Argentina 19.24)
Nahuel Morandini, Roque Villegas, and Lucía González are prosecuted only for expressing opinions about a public figure on social media. Morandini and Villegas were imprisoned for 54 days and still…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: STOP PUNISHING WOMEN PROTESTERS (Afghanistan 112.23)
Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, women protesting Taliban’s draconian policies have been forcibly disappeared, arbitrarily arrested, and detained and subjected to torture and other ill treatment.…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST AHMAD KHALEFA (IOPT 25.24)
Ahmad Khalefa, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, is a lawyer, human rights defender, community organizer, and newly elected city council member. On October 19, 2023, Israeli police violently arrested him…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: DROP CHARGES AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER (Gambia 40.22)
In May 2022, the Gambian President accused human rights defender, Madi Jobarteh, of being a “troublemaker” who wants to bring violence into the country. Since then, he has been receiving…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: CHILD CLIMATE JUSTICE ACTIVIST INTIMIDATED IN HER HOME (Ecuador 18.24)
14-year-old climate activist, Leonela Moncayo, reported that on February 26, there was an explosion outside her home caused by an improvised explosive device. This happened five days after Leonela was…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: RELEASE ARBITRARILY DETAINED JUDGE (Yemen 16.24)
Abdulwahab Mohammad Qatran, a Yemeni judge critical of the Huthi de facto authorities, was arbitrarily arrested by members of the Huthi security and intelligence service who broke into his house…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: TORTURED MAN FACING PROTEST-RELATED EXECUTION (Iran 107.23)
Kurdish man Reza Rasaei, from the Yaresan religious minority, is at imminent risk of execution in relation to the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising after the Supreme Court rejected a request…
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: JOURNALIST RELEASED AFTER THREE YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT (Outcome for Iraq 28.21)
NO FURTHER ACTION IS REQUESTED. MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT APPEALS. On February 17, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) authorities released journalist Guhdar Zebari after more than three…