Amnesty 'regret' report criticising Harry Potter author JK Rowling's sexual violence support centre

Amnesty International UK has said it regrets publishing a report describing a sexual violence centre set up by JK Rowling as “anti-rights”.

Beira’s Place was founded in 2022 and funded by the author to meet what she described as an “unmet need” for women after a row over transgender people in rape crisis centres.

In a briefing issued last week by Amnesty International entitled “A Growing Threat: The Anti-Rights Movement in the UK”, the facility in Edinburgh was listed as gender-critical.

The human rights charity has since said the briefing was uploaded to its website without going through the established internal review and was “promptly” removed.

A statement added: “We regret that this briefing was uploaded to our website without going through the established internal review processes that are in place to ensure consistency, accuracy and alignment with Amnesty International UK’s positions.

“Its use of language does not reflect the position of Amnesty International UK, which is why it was promptly removed.

“We remain committed to defending human rights, including both the rights of women and the rights of trans people.

“Human rights protections are strongest when they apply equally to everyone, and no community should be singled out for unfair treatment or denied their dignity and rights.”

‘Deeply offensive’

Rowling, who has written about the sexual and domestic abuse she suffered in the past, set up and funded the service, which she hoped would enable “more women to recover from trauma”.

She said it was important that survivors have access to “women-centred and women-delivered care”.

In a post on X, Rowling described the report as the “‘anti-rights’ blacklist” and called for those included to apply to the JK Rowling Women’s Fund for support in taking legal action.

Beira’s Place chief Lesley Johnston described the description by Amnesty as “deeply offensive”.

She added: “It is inexplicable that Beira’s Place has been listed as an “anti-rights organisation” in a report published last week by Amnesty International.

“This is deeply offensive to Beira’s Place staff who work day in day out to support survivors, and to the women who need and use our service.

“We will continue to focus on the needs of the women who come to us and, through the integrated work we do with partners such as Edinburgh’s Equally Safe Committee, we remain committed to a vision where women and girls can live in a world free of sexual violence.”

Apology

For Women Scotland, the campaign group which won a UK Supreme Court legal victory against Scottish ministers on the definition of a woman, was also listed in the report.

The Amnesty report said the ruling had contributed to a “significant decline in protection for LGBT+ rights”.

For Women Scotland has called for Amnesty to apologise and for the report to be withdrawn.

The group has threatened to “take further measures” if the requests are not met.