A leading human rights charity has said it regrets publishing a report which labelled a sexual violence support centre founded by JK Rowling as “anti-rights”.
Amnesty International has removed the report, which it said was published online “without going through the established internal review processes”.
Beira’s Place was established in Edinburgh in 2022 by JK Rowling to provide women-only support for women who have experienced sexual violence.
It was among dozens of organisations described as “gender critical” and classed as “anti-rights” in the document published by Amnesty International UK.
An Amnesty International UK spokesperson said: “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.”
The list also names organisations including For Women Scotland (FWS), which won a Supreme Court case in April last year that saw judges at the UK’s highest court make clear the term “woman” in the Equality Act refers to a biological woman.
Beira’s Place offers support, advocacy and information to female survivors of sexual abuse in a women-only space.
Its chief executive, Lesley Johnston, said it was “inexplicable” that it had been included on the Amnesty International UK list.
She said: “Beira’s Place was established in 2022 to address an unmet need for a single-sex, support service for female survivors of male violence.
“We are proud of our work and we know how much our service means to the women who have used it.
“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.”
For Women Scotland wrote to Amnesty International UK asking for a full apology and for the report to be permanently withdrawn.
Susan Smith, of For Women Scotland, said Amnesty International UK “have a responsibility to do more to sort out the mess of their creation.”
She said: “Since the report was released (and hastily withdrawn) it has been open season on the groups mentioned.
“We have been accused of lurid activities which would be ridiculous if they were not so troubling and damaging. We believe that these were a direct result of the Amnesty report.
“Even though Amnesty has admitted they made a mistake, they have not apologised and have said nothing to quell rumours that FWS and others threatened them into withdrawing the report.”
In a post on X, JK Rowling said that any organisations named on what she described as the Amnesty UK “blacklist” who wish to take legal action can apply to the JK Rowling Women’s Fund.
She said that gay men’s organisations named on the list are welcome to contact her through her website.
