Urgent Action Network

  1. “The Urgent Action Network (UAN) is an Amnesty International program designed to provide a quick, effective response to situations of urgency involving prisoners, detainees and other threatened individuals.”
  2. Find and respond to information regarding threatened individuals, relay this information to concerned people who are willing to send letters, faxes, telegrams, and aerograms to government authorities about cases of:
    1. Torture
    2. Capital punishment
    3. Extrajudicial execution
    4. Ill-treatment
    5. “Disappearance”
    6. Untreated health problems
    7. Death threats
    8. Denial of legal counsel
    9. Unacknowledged detention
    10. Forced repatriation
    11. Harassment
    12. Arbitrary arrest
  3. Each urgent action gives specific information about the individual as well as background information about similar human rights violations in the country. They also include suggested actions and the authorities responsible for the actions

HISTORY OF URGENT ACTION NETWORK

  1. 12/10/72 – 24th anniversary of signing of Declaration of Human Rights; beginning of campaign to end torture
  2. Soon after, Amnesty got their first opportunity to immediately respond to a situation in which a person was being tortured; the first Urgent Action was issued to Amnesty members and the prisoner was released
  3. 12/10/73 – Conference for the Abolition of Torture; established a program to respond to situations of people under the threat of torture
  4. This program became the Urgent Action Network, the focus of which now includes writing of behalf of individuals threatened by any human rights abuses

Participation

  1. Most of the network is made up of individual letter-writers
  2. Amnesty community groups and student chapters receive urgent actions; some write sample letters for group members to hand out and sign whereas others write their own letters
  3. Petitions – made on the basis of an urgent action

Statement of Responsibility

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