We are a virtual group of Amnesty International that is dedicated to writing and sending so-called „Urgent Action“ – letters to protest against a grave violation of human rights – as fast as possible after the researchers on the international level publish them. Please note that this is a special form of Urgent Action writing. We are based in German speaking countries, and write and send Urgent Action letters in English (or our native tongues) based on the Urgent Actions immediately after being issued in English (and other languages).
What is an Urgent Action?
An urgent action is based on a simple idea: when a person is in immediate danger of serious abuse, the government or party responsible for perpetrating or failing to prevent that abuse will receive thousands of faxes, emails and air-letters from every part of the globe. Those messages tell the authorities that the world is watching, and create pressure to stop the abuse.
Amnesty’s International Secretariat in London publishes an Urgent Action in case of a specific threat of a grave human rights violation. These can be, for example, death penalty, torture, forced eviction, or death threats. Such an Urgent Action is distributed amongst Amnesty’s worldwide followers, who then start writing letters. Here is the list, we pluck our information from List of Urgent Actions published by Amnesty International to the public
In Germany, an Urgent Action is normally translated into German before it is sent further to the members. As a fast reaction is of paramount importance in case of a human rights violation, our Urgent Action Group was founded to react immediately after the Urgent Action is published – within 24 hours.
Our work
Our work is focused on letter writing, usually in English or our native tongue. We write protest letters to Urgent Actions published in English by the International Secretariate the same day. For the time being, we focus on writing, and no longer provide training. Seasoned writers familiar with writing UAs, please check our Join Us page.
We’d like to encourage you to find a local group to become familiar with how to write. In addition, please check these resources: