Help close UK legal loopholes on international crimes
UNA-UK is supporting an Aegis Trust/REDRESS campaign to reform and strengthen UK law relating to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. At present, legal loopholes can prevent suspects found on UK soil from being prosecuted, extradited or deported. For example, five men suspected of involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide have been found in the UK. In April, the High Court prevented the extradition of four of them. They have now been freed and remain in the UK.

UNA-UK Chair Lord Hannay has written to the Secretary of State for Justice urging the government to support amendments to the law designed to close these loopholes. Click here to read the letter.

Take action by encouraging your MP to write the Secretary of State for Justice and to sign Early Day Motion 1477.

Support calls to release Aung San Suu Kyi
In May 2009 Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's pro-democracy leader and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, was arrested again and taken to Insein Prison. She is accused of breaching the terms of her house arrest, which was due to expire last month. Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 19 years in detention, for the most part under house arrest.

In a letter to the Foreign Secretary, UNA-UK Chair Lord Hannay expressed 'revulsion and deep concern' at Suu Kyi's latest arrest and urged the UK to continue to protest the 'trumped-up' charges. Click here to read the letter.

Support Amnesty International's call for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience in Myanmar by sending a letter to the Senior General, Than Shwe. Click here to find out more.

Take the next step in banning cluster munitions worldwide
UNA-UK and its partners in the Cluster Munition Coalition successfully secured UK government agreement to ban cluster munitions. Half the world's countries have now also banned them and we need your help to get the rest on board.

This week is the Global Week of Action Against Cluster Bombs.

Take action both by urging key countries to ban cluster bombs and by signing the Cluster Munition Coalition global petition.

Highly indebted developing countries are often the target of vulture funds, hedge funds which effectively divert debt relief to line their own pockets. The activities of vulture funds stand in complete contradiction to, and indeed undermine, international efforts to reduce the unsustainable debts of the poorest countries.

At least 54 companies are known to have taken legal action against 12 of the world’s poorest countries, for claims amounting to $1.5 billion. One-fifth of these cases are or will be tried in UK courts.

Take action by getting your MP to sign the Early Day motion 1440 on vulture funds. Click here to check whether your MP has signed EDM 1440, and here if you are not sure who your MP is.

UNite to end violence against women!
One in five women worldwide will become the victim of actual or attempted rape.  If you are a woman aged 15 to 44 years, you are more likely to die as a result of rape or domestic violence than from cancer, war or road accidents.  Ending violence against women is one of UNA-UK's major campaigns this year in support of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s UNite campaign.  Launched in February 2008, one of the central planks of the campaign is its bid to promote leading among men and boys in the global effort to end violence against women and girls.

Find out more here.

Click here to take action!

PUT PEOPLE FIRST!
The 'Put People First' campaign, supported by a coalition of NGOs, is calling on governments participating in the G20 summit on 2 April 2009 to use it as an opportunity to address global inequality, promote decent jobs for all, and make progress towards creating a low-carbon world.

The coalition is holding a march in London on 28 March to draw the G20's attention to 'Jobs, Justice and Climate' during the summit.

Visit www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk to find out more.

Support the World Food Programme , the UN's frontline agency in the fight against hunger.

WFP has launched a new campaign, the Wall Against Hunger. The Wall is an online wall of photos uploaded by supporters of WFP's mission: delivering the world from hunger.

It costs just 15p to provide a hungry child with a nutritious meal. Join us and feed a child in honour of someone you love. Put their photo on the Wall - then send them an original e-mail greeting.

Find out more about how the UN system can offer protection against extraordinary rendition

Support Amnesty International's call for an end to rendition and secret detention in Europe by writing to French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Send a copy of the letter to your MEP. If you are not sure who your MEP is, click here to find out.

The earth is warming faster than at any time in the last 10,000 years. Current climate trends could leave over 3 billion people facing water shortages, leading to political instability.

Find out your carbon footprint and reduce it. Act On CO2 calculates your carbon footprint and creates a useful action plan for to reduce your footprint.

Visit www.direct.gov.uk to find out what your carbon footprint is and how you can reduce it

Help your town go green by visiting Greenpeace's Efficiencity website

Get involved with UNA-UK's Climate Change Conference Series, and see our page on how to lobby your MP

Join Stop Climate Chaos in strengthening the Climate Change Bill. UNA-UK is supporting an amendment to the Bill which would require an 80% emissions reduction target (in place of the Bill's 60% target), including emissions from international aviation and shipping. Contact your MP to find out if they are supporting this amendment. For resources to send to your MP on this campaign, contact Mark Rusling on 020 7766 3459.

Stop Climate Chaos also has three new campaigns: 'Yes to Renewables', 'No to Coal' and 'Recharge the Media'. Follow the links to find out how to get involved.

Some 1.2 million children, in both industrialised and developing countries, are trafficked each year. These children are subjected to prostitution, forced into marriage or illegally adopted; they provide cheap or unpaid labour, work as house servants or beggars; are recruited into armed groups; and are even used for sports.

Check: has your MP signed EDM 172?

Take action on child trafficking in the UK by supporting Anti-Slavery International's campaign

Support EPCAT's Thr3e Small Steps Campaign to end Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes

Find out about the UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking

Along with the Cluster Munition Coalition, UNA-UK is calling fo the UK government to fulfil its pledge to support the urgent establishment of a comprehensive international ban on cluster munitions.

Check: has your MP signed EDM 602?

Sign Handicap International's petition

Download the Parliamentary Action Kit from the Cluster Munitions Coalition

Recycle to save lives! If you have empty inkjet cartridges or an old mobile phone you can recycle them to raise funds to clear landmines

As a result of the ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan, over 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million displaced since 2003. In 2005, UN member states adopted the ‘responsibility to protect’, which commits states to intervene to stop large-scale atrocities such as these.

Support the 'Wanted for War Crimes' campaign to demand that those indicted for war crimes be brought to justice

Join Amnesty International in calling for UNAMID to protect displaced Darfuri women

Keep Darfur in the news by joining the 24 Hours for Darfur video advocacy and education campaign

Join Amnesty International's call for Sudan to arrest and bring to justice those accused by the International Criminal Court of the worst human rights violations.

An important reason for the inadequate progress in reaching the Millennium Development Goals - 8 targets designed to reduce world poverty by 2015 and formally agreed by world leaders in 2000 - is that politicians in many countries are not delivering on promises made under MDG 8: to develop a global partnership for development.

Sign Jubilee Debt Campaign's petition to Gordon Brown, adding your own message about the financial crisis

Support Oxfam's 'Make Trade Fair' campaign

Join Stamp Out Poverty campaign

Participate in Jubilee Debt Campaign's 'Journey for Justice'

Watch Stamp Out Poverty's film - Can Pay, Should Pay

The human rights situation in Kenya, Tibet, Burma and Zimbabwe has deteriorated in recent months, whilst the humanitarian situation in Israel-Palestine remains dire.

Support Morgan Tsvangirai and condemn the actions of Mugabe by signing Avaaz's petition

Support a joint call by Avaaz, Oxfam, IANSA, Amnesty and Control Arms to block arms going to Zimbabwe

Show your support for peace in Israel-Palestine by signing Avaaz's emergency petition for Gaza ceasefire

Sign Avaaz's petition for human rights in Tibet. Join Free Tibet's urgent action network

Support Amnesty International's campaign to protect human rights in Kenya

Pressure companies operating in Burma to promote human rights

Support Human Rights Watch's campaign against Sri Lanka's candidacy for the Human Rights Council.

UNA-UK supports the work of UN field agencies by raising awareness of their invaluable role in delivering assistance to those who need it, and by promoting their advocacy and fundraising campaigns.

Assist the World Food Programme by playing the award-winning World Food Programme's 'FreeRice' vocabulary game

Write to your MP to help raise awareness of UNHCR's work. Click here to find out about UNHCR

Get involved with UNIFEM's campaign, 'Say No to Violence'

Support UNICEF's work by participating in the joint UNICEF/UNA Trust fundraising drive