The Baltic Appeal to the United Nations (Batun, formed in 1966) was a pressure group formed by émigré Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians. The organisation grew out of the Baltic Freedom Rally, held on 13 November 1965 with 15,000 participants. The aim of Batun was to bring to the attention of United Nations member states the fact that the three Baltic States had been illegally annexed by the Soviet Union. At the beginning, Batun concentrated on providing printed information on the situation in the Baltic States, and on personal contacts with diplomatic representatives at the UN. In the late 1980s, and throughout 1991, Batun helped to inform Western media, non-governmental organisations and foreign ministries about the situation in the Baltic States, which were moving towards restoring their independence.