JK Rowling centre says Amnesty apology does not solve ‘reputational damage’

By Neil Pooran, Press Association Scotland News Editor

A sexual violence support centre backed by JK Rowling has welcomed an apology from Amnesty International, but said it does not rectify the “reputational damage” from a controversial briefing.

Beira’s Place was among organisations labelled “anti-rights” and described as “gender critical” in a briefing published by Amnesty International.

The human rights charity has now apologised for the publication of the briefing – titled A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK – saying it has been taken down and does not reflect Amnesty’s institutional position.

The London-based organisation made a particular apology to Beira’s Place, acknowledging it should not have been labelled as “anti-rights”.

Beira’s Place was established in Edinburgh in 2022 by Rowling to provide women-only support for women who have experienced sexual violence.

The Harry Potter author shared the charity’s statement on X on Friday evening.

https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/2083280764934746228?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

It referred to another briefing published by Amnesty called Like A Snowball.

The Edinburgh charity’s statement said: “Beira’s Place acknowledges the apology published by Amnesty International together with the undertaking to commission an independent external review into how two reports containing such false and harmful allegations could be published and promoted in its name.

“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.”

Amnesty International had earlier said that the document should never have been published and an internal investigation is under way.

Amnesty said: “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.”