Amnesty International's UK branch is under scrutiny by the charity regulator following its decision to include JK Rowling's women-only charity, Beira's Place, on a list of "anti-rights" organizations. The UK's Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case to assess concerns raised about the briefing published by Amnesty International UK Charitable Trust.
Amnesty International has referred itself to the Charity Commission, submitting a serious incident report. While a formal investigation has not been launched, the watchdog is engaging with the charity's trustees to gather more information. An Amnesty spokesperson confirmed the compliance case and stated that the charity has submitted the required incident report.
The controversy arose when Amnesty International UK published a report titled 'A Growing Threat: The Anti-Rights Movement in the UK,' which featured Beira's Place among over 100 organizations. Beira's Place, founded by Rowling in Edinburgh in 2022, provides support for victims of sexual violence in a women-only environment. The report also included Sex Matters and For Women Scotland, groups advocating for single-sex spaces.
In response to the inclusion of her charity, Rowling expressed strong disapproval on social media, calling Amnesty "a self-appointed, vainglorious policeman of wrongthink." She threatened to bankroll legal action against Amnesty, which prompted the organization to remove the report from its website. Amnesty UK has since apologized for the list, stating it was published without the usual checks and that they remain committed to defending the human rights of both women and girls, and trans people.
Rowling's charity describes itself as a "safe and supportive sexual assault service for women in Edinburgh" offering services within a "women-only space." The Amnesty report characterized gender-critical individuals as representing "a movement against the rights of women and LGBTI people" and urged journalists to qualify the term "gender-critical" in their reporting, explaining it as an ideological stance seeking to restrict the rights of trans people.
Marion Calder, co-director of For Women Scotland, welcomed the Charity Commission's attention to the matter. The incident has led to calls for the resignation of the head of Amnesty International UK.