Amnesty apologises to JK Rowling's sexual violence support centre

Amnesty International UK has published an apology for a report which classed an Edinburgh sexual violence support centre set up by JK Rowling as "anti-rights".

The Harry Potter author threatened Amnesty with legal action over a briefing it published on its website called "A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK".

It listed Beira's Place, a women-only support service which Rowling funds, among more than 100 organisations which it characterised as being part of an anti-rights movement.

In its apology, Amnesty said the briefing "should never have been published", adding that an internal investigation was ongoing into how this happened.

The briefing, published in July, defined anti-rights actors as groups whose aim is to "restrict human rights by undermining human rights protections in law and practice"

Many of the organisations it listed were classed as "gender critical", including Beira's Place and For Women Scotland, a campaign group that last year won a landmark case on the legal definition of a "woman" .

Rowling set up Beira's Place in 2022 after a row over the management of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre which at the time was being run by a transgender woman.

The author said it was important that survivors of abuse had the option of "women-centred" and "women-delivered" care.

In its apology Amnesty UK said: "This document should never have been published, and full responsibility for this error rests with Amnesty International UK.

"We have an ongoing internal investigation into how this briefing came to be published."

The statement added that the "anti-rights" labelling did not represent Amnesty's position as an institution, adding: "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."

Amnesty said the briefing fell "significantly short" of its standards, and an independent external review would be commissioned.

Another briefing entitled Like A Snowball, which also referenced a wide range of organisations, has also been taken down.

The apology concluded that Amnesty was committed to defending marginalised groups including "women, girls, and members of the trans community".

Responding to the apology, Beira's Place said the Amnesty reports had contained "false and harmful allegations".

It said: "The permanent removal of both reports is a tacit acceptance that they contained allegations which were false and defamatory of a large number of organisations which it classed as 'gender critical'.

"While the apology is welcomed it does not rectify the reputational damage caused to Beira's Place. In particular the apology fails to recognise that those most severely impacted are the staff who work day in day out to support survivors of sexual violence and the many women who need and use the service."

It added: "Although the apology extends to those groups classed as 'gender critical' it is noteworthy that many other organisations were wrongly defamed by Amnesty in both reports for simply upholding the protected belief that sex is real, immutable and important in many areas of life.

"Those organisations also deserve a written apology."