AMNESTY International has issued an apology for publishing a report which labelled JK Rowling’s sexual violence support centre Beira’s Place an “anti-rights” organisation.
The charity published a report entitled “A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK” on July 8. It labelled various gender-critical campaign groups “anti-rights” and alleged that they “visibly oppose the rights” of LGBT+ people.
“Anti-rights actors seek a society in which women and men have fixed and distinct roles, based on what they view as ‘natural’ and ‘traditional’,” it said.
Beira’s Place – which was founded by the Rowling in 2022 – provides support to what it describes as “women-only” survivors of sexual abuse and assault. The centre does not hire or provide services to transgender women.
Further groups labelled “anti-rights” included For Women Scotland, Murray Blackburn Mackenzie, the LGB Alliance, the Seen Network, ADF International, Turning Point UK, and Labour Women's Declaration.
Lawyers acting on behalf of Beira’s Place accused the human rights charity of defamation and threatened legal action unless the report was permanently withdrawn. Rowling also urged other organisations who were included in the list – which she deemed a “blacklist” – to apply to her fund which could help with legal costs.
The report was taken down "temporarily" less than two days after publication, and on Friday, Amnesty International UK issued an apology and retraction.
A statement read: “We apologise for the publication of the briefing ‘A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK’. This document should never have been published, and full responsibility for this error rests with Amnesty International UK [AIUK].”
It went on: “The briefing was taken down within 48 hours of publication, as soon as management were notified of its existence, was not actively promoted, and will not be republished. We have an ongoing internal investigation into how this briefing came to be published.
“Whilst we do not share the views of all these organisations, we recognise the concerns raised by those labelled as ‘anti-rights’ in the document. To be clear: this labelling does not represent our institutional position, and we apologise for its inclusion.
“In particular, we apologise to Beira’s Place and other groups, which we categorised as gender-critical organisations, which we should not have collectively labelled as anti-rights. We have also taken down an earlier more discursive briefing (entitled Like A Snowball) which also referenced a wide range of organisations.
“AIUK holds itself to the highest standards of research, evidence and editorial oversight in all its publications. We have concluded that this briefing fell significantly short of those standards. We will commission an independent external review to learn from this moment.
“AIUK remains fully committed to defending the human rights, dignity, and equality of all marginalised groups, including women, girls, and members of the trans community.”
Previously, the Charity Commission confirmed that Amnesty International UK had referred itself by submitting a serious incident report. The commission is now considering whether it needed to take action.
“We can confirm that concerns have been raised with us about a briefing published by Amnesty International UK charitable trust,” a spokesperson for the Charity Commission said.
“In line with our guidance, the charity has also submitted a serious incident report. We are assessing the matters raised to determine what, if any, role there might be for us as charity law regulator.”
