Changing lives and policies
We free people from prison who are being held unjustly because of who they are or what they believe. We change laws to protect millions of people’s human rights. We transform societies to be more fair, free, and just.

Featured Victory
Marilin* (31) and Yunior* (11), have been released! Before the family’s release this week, Marilin faced an anniversary no parent would want: one year of lockup with her child simply for seeking safety here in the United States.
Marilin and Yunior were featured in our family detention campaign surge – several weeks of sustained actions, from grassroots activism to billboards, to drive attention to the dozens of families who are invisible behind detention walls in Pennsylvania and Texas. We want them and the government to know they’re not forgotten, and that we are working to free them all.Â
Thank you all for your continuing support and activism on these case campaigns. Our collective action shines a bright light on these families and the unlawful detention of them and so many more people detained in immigration facilities, and helps push the needle for their release.
Browse Victories
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Beninese Journalist Ignace Sossou is Free (Benin: UA 8.20)
Investigative journalist Ignace Sossou was freed from Cotonou prison on 24 June after having served six months in arbitrary detention. On 19 May, the Cotonou Court of Appeal reduced his…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Jehovah’s Witness’ Sentence Commuted (Russian Federation: UA 107.20)
On 3 August, the Pskov Regional Court, in western Russia, commuted Gennadiy Shpakovsky’s six-and-a-half-years’ prison sentence to a suspended sentence of the same duration including two years on probation. The…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Niger Journalist Samira Sabou Has Been Freed (Niger: UA 117.20)
Samira Sabou, a journalist and President of the Niger bloggers association, was freed from Niamey pris-on on 28 July after the judge dismissed all charges of defamation against her. She…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Kelly Gonzalez Aguilar is Free (USA: UA 59.20)
Kelly Gonzalez Aguilar, a 23-year-old transgender woman, fled Honduras when she was 12 years old because of violence against her based on her transgender identity. US immigration authorities detained her…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Government Confirms Funding for Women’s Rights (Mexico: UA 111.20)
On 23 April, the Mexican government suspended funding for different programs to attend the COVID-19 pandemic, including that of the Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Women Shelters (CAMIs). The government had not…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Opposition Leader Released from Prison (Cuba: UA 134.19)
After being in detention since October 2019, José Daniel Ferrer GarcÃa was sent to house arrest in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, on April 2020, after a trial where he was…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Teacher and Protest Organizer Released on Bail (Iraq: UA 89.20)
On 30 May 2020, teacher and activist Badal Abdulbaqi Aba Bakr Barwari was released on bail. On 16 May 2020 armed members of local police as well as security forces…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Activist Released from Psychiatric Hospital (Azerbaijan: UA 104.20)
Opposition activist Agil Humbatov was released from a psychiatric hospital in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, on 1 July. He was forcibly placed there on 2 April after he criticized the authorities’…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Female Activist Released After Incommunicado Detention (China: UA 28.20)
Li Qiaochu, an active defender of the rights of women and workers, has been released on bail and returned home on 19 June 2020. Detained incommunicado since 16 February 2020,…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Defender Receives Additional Protection (Mexico: UA 58.20)
Since we took action for Clemencia Adelaida Salas Salazar, women’s rights defender in Yucatán (South), she has not faced further attacks. In May 2020, the Mexican Protection Mechanism for Human…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Attacks Against Indigenous Communities Investigated (Colombia: UA 70.20)
On 27 May, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Villavicencio (Central Colombia) sent four people from its Technical Investigation Body to the ASEINPOME community to investigate the threats the community has…
Victory
Urgent Action Victory! Asylum-Seekers Allowed to Disembark (Malta: UA 87.20)
Maltese authorities finally allowed the disembarkment of all asylum-seekers held on four ferry boats off Malta’s territorial waters in the night of 6-7 June. The approximately 425 asylum-seekers had been…