Ready-Made
Human Rights Letters

Here are short letters that you can easily print and mail.

Select the address and text; copy and paste them into Word or whatever you use for writing. Arrange on the page to your liking.

Even better is to spend a few moments individualizing the text. You could change words, add your own remarks, use different points from the fuller information given.
A short letter in simple language is most likely to be understood. Stay polite.

Get back to us if you have a question. Or if you have the luck to receive a reply—it could be important. We'd love to know that you've written.

—Guy Ottewell and Tilly Lavenás, founder members of the Amnesty International groups of Greenville, South Carolina, and Lyme Regis, England.

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Updates on past cases

Do letters do any good?

These “remhurls” have been sent by email to a list of friends at irregular intervals (monthly, sometimes less, sometimes more) since 1996. Since 2008 we have used this better method of distribution. We are responsible for them; they are not an official production of Amnesty International, Survival International, or any other of our sources.

You may submit a letter appeal for possible use. Please make it easy for us: Keep it short. Provide a summary of the fuller information (which we like to get in chronological order). Expect to be edited. Provide a web link if possible, or a citation of the authority for the information, e.g. for an Amnesty International Urgent Action, its number, date, and "write no later than" date. Send to guy@universalworkshop.com

Another resource for easily sending human-rights letters

posted 2013 Apr16

Mayor Rafal Dutkiewicz
ul. Sukiennice 9
50-107 Wroclaw
Poland
Email: bpr@um.wroc.pl

Dear Mayor,
     I am deeply concerned about the Roma families who recently received eviction notices and were told they must leave their homes within two weeks. They were given no alternative housing. More than 60 people, including 35 children, now face homelessness.
     May I respectfully remind you that international human rights law, by which Poland is bound, stipulates that evictions can be carried out only as a last resort.
     I strongly urge you to stop these evictions immediately and ensure no one is left homeless. It is essential that you provide adequate accommodation for those who cannot provide for themselves.
     Sincerely,

Information is from Amnesty International's Urgent Action 83/13:
www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR37/001/2013/en/7de0403f-a019-4bc7-97a6-47376e46a4cb/eur370012013en.html

posted 2013 Mar 27

Bahodir Ahmedovich Matlubov
Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del
ul. Junus Rajabiy 1
Tashkent 100029
UZBEKISTAN

mvd@mvd.uz
and info@mvd.uz

Dear Minister of Internal Affairs,
     We are urgently concerned about Azamatzhon Ermakov.
     It is reported that he was probably abducted from Russia and brought back to Uzbekistan, where he is in grave danger of torture.
     We appeal to you to make sure that his human rights are respected. If accused of a genuine crime, he must be tried fairly, in accordance with international standards. If innocent he should be released. On no account must he be tortured.
     The courtesy of a quick reply on this important matter will be gratefully appreciated.

He fled to Russia in 2009 from Uzbekistan, where he was charged with religious extremism and attempting to overthrow the constituion and risks the torture for which Uzbekistan is notorious. Uzbekistan demanded his extradition, which Russia approved. The European Court of Human Rights ordered a stay of extradition until it had examined his claims. But in January 2013 a letter to Amnesty International from the Investigative Committee for Nizhnii Novgorod in Russia, where he had been arrested, claimed that he had been released in November 2012 and had taken a flight from Moscow to Tashkent, the Uzbek capital. Since he speaks no Russian and had no money to buy a ticket, had no warm winter clothes, and had every reason not to be back in Uzbekistan, it is probable that he had been abducted. He may be now in his 4th month of torture.

Please copy your message to the Uzbek ambassador in your country:
Sergey I. Kislyak
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
202 298 5700
Fax: 1 202 298 5735
russianembassy@mindspring.com
Twitter: @MID_RF for tweets in Russian, @MFA_Russia for tweets in English

HE Otabek Akbarov
Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
41 Holland Park
London, W11 3RP
info@uzbekembassy.org

Information is from a March update to Amnesty International's Urgent Action UA 330/1 of 9 November 2012.

posted 2013 Jan 22

S.E. Ollanta Humala
Presidente de la República del Perú
Palacio de Gobierno
Plaza de Armas
Lima 1
Peru

Your Excellency,
     I am concerned about the planned expansion of the Camisea Gas project. It has proved disastrous for Indians in the surrounding area.
     Uncontacted tribes in Peru are vulnerable to diseases brought in by outsiders. They are in danger of being exterminated. They have the right to live undisturbed on their own lands.
     I urge you to protect the lands belonging to these people:
     — All extraction of natural resources by outsiders should be prohibited.
     — All loggers should be removed.
     — Other outsiders should be prevented from entering.
     Your government should recognize the tribes as the rightful owners of their land. That is your obligation under international law.
     Yours sincerely,

The infprmation comes from Survival International:
http://www.survivalinternational.org/actnow/writealetter/isolatedperu

Thongsing Thammavong, Prime Minister
Prime Minister's Office
Lane Xang Avenue
Vientiane
Lao People's Democratic Republic

Dear Prime Minister,
    I am concerned about Thao Moua and Pa Fue Khang, ethnic Hmong men now serving sentences of 12 and 15 years in Samkhe Prison.
    They were arrested in June 2003 for working as guides to two foreign journalists. They were shackled, and beaten with sticks and bicycle chains. They had a clearly unfair trial, with no legal representation, and a sentence written beforehand.
    I urge you to:
—Review the cases of Thao Moua and Pa Fue Khang.
—Ensure that they are subjected to no further ill-treatment.
—Release them, if there is no credible evidence of any crime committed by them.
    I look forward to the honor of an early reply from you about this important matter.

The running genocide of the Hmong, and another address to which you could send your letter

Chairman Ba Te Er
People's Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
Hohhot City
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
People's Republic of China

Dear Chairman,
    It is now known that Hada is in a prison in Hohhot.
    He was brought there from Chifeng Prison on 10 December 2010— which was supposed to be the end of his 15 years of imprisonment. Another year has passed
    It is shocking that Hada not only was imprisoned so long for upholding the human rights of Mongolians, but was re-imprisoned at the end of his sentence.
    Please act justly and release Hada.

For the latest twist in the far-too-long story of the scholar Hada, see the end of this page.

Sadakazu Tanigaki,
1-1-1 Kasumigaseki,Chiyoda-ka
Tokyo 100-8977,
Japan

Dear Minister of Justice,
     I write to you about Hakamada Iwao. His case, as you know, is internationally notorious.
     He was convicted on the basis of a forced confession. The chief judge at the original trial believes that he is innocent.
     Hakamada Iwao has been on death row longer than anyone else in the world: 44 years, and 28 of them in solitary confinement. Under Japan's present rules, he could be hanged at any time, without warning. He has become insane.
     He should not be executed. He should be granted a new trial.
     I put it to you that Japan should reform its cruel death-row system. Japan should introduce a moratorium on the death penalty, joining the 140 countries that have put an ended to this primitive practice.
     Yours respectfully and sincerely,

Forced to confess, 44 years in solitary or almost-solitary, always under the shadow of the noose