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: PROTEST-RELATED EXECUTION IMMINENT FOR TORTURED MAN (Iran 107.23)
Share: On This Page Kurdish man, Reza Rasaei, from the Yaresan religious minority, is at imminent risk of execution in…
May 8, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: UNION LEADER SENTENCED TO SEVEN YEARS IN PRISON (Myanmar 38.24)
Thet Hnin Aung, a prominent trade union leader, was sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labor following a…
May 7, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: VENEZUELAN PRISONERS FACE CRITICAL NEGLECT (Venezuela 96.23)
Since February 2024, Juan Carlos Marrufo is enduring inhumane prison conditions in the Venezuelan prison, Rodeo I, and has been…
May 3, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: FREE DETAINEES, CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO (USA 66.22)
30 men remain unlawfully detained at the US military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. 16 are cleared for release yet…
May 1, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: EXECUTION SET AS STATE MISCONDUCT REVEALED (USA 35.24)
Jamie Mills is scheduled to be executed in Alabama on May 30, 2024. He was convicted in 2007 of the…
May 1, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: FREE JOURNALIST QAHRAMAN SHUKRI (Iraq/KRI 34.24)
Security forces in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) arrested journalist, Qahraman Shukri, on January 27, 2021. On June 23,…
April 30, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: MANAHEL AL-OTAIBI BEATEN IN DETENTION (Saudi Arabia 14.24)
On April 14, 2024, five months after Saudi authorities forcibly disappeared 29-year-old, Manahel al-Otaibi, she contacted her family for the…
April 30, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: JOURNALIST AT RISK (Mexico 17.24)
Mexican journalist, Alberto Amaro, has denounced several serious attacks in the last five years due to his work. In January…
April 30, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: CHINESE DIRECTOR ARRESTED FOR PROTEST FILM (China 37.24)
Chen Pinlin is the director of the documentary, ‘Urumqi Middle Road’ (乌鲁木齐中路), which captures scenes from the nationwide “White Paper…
April 26, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: CIVIL SOCIETY UNDER ATTACK WITH NEW DRAFT LAW (Zimbabwe 68.22)
On March 1, Zimbabwe’s government announced the Private Voluntary Organization (PVO) Amendment Bill 2024 to allegedly ‘curb money-laundering and financing…
April 23, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: SYRIAN REFUGEE AT RISK OF DEPORTATION (Jordan 32.24)
On April 9, 2024, Jordanian security forces arrested Syrian refugee, Atiya Mohammad Abu Salem, while he was on his way…
April 22, 2024
Urgent Action
Urgent Action: STOP THE INHUMANE TREATMENT OF MARIA PONOMARENKO IN PRISON (Russia 33.24)
The Russian authorities are putting the health and life of journalist Maria Ponomarenko at risk due to her treatment, and…
April 19, 2024