JK Rowling’s Beira’s Place responds to ‘deeply offensive’ Amnesty report

Beira’s Place, the women-only service for survivors of sexual violence founded by JK Rowling, has described an Amnesty International UK report listing it as “anti-rights” as “deeply offensive”.  

Amnesty International UK’s report, which was published last week, looked into the “rise of an anti-rights movement targeting the rights of women and LGBT+ people in the UK”, and identified a list of “anti-rights organisations”, of which Beira’s Place was one.    

The report by the human rights charity has been temporarily removed to allow an internal review to be conducted after it faced intense public scrutiny.

Beira’s Place, which was launched by Rowling in 2022, only offers support to biological women.  

Around the time of the launch, the Harry Potter author described an “unmet need” for Scottish women who want “women-centred and women-delivered care at such a vulnerable time”.

Reacting to the report last week, Rowling said on social media: “It appears that (as many of us have suspected for years) Amnesty believes certain kinds of humans don't deserve rights: women, girls and those who are proudly same-sex attracted. I hope donors from those groups are taking note.”

Beira’s Place chief executive, Lesley Johnston, 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.”

The report also lists For Women Scotland (FWS) and policy group Murray Blackburn Mackenzie.  

FWS co-founders Trina Budge, Marion Calder and Susan Smith have written to the human rights charity, warning that the report contributes to “reputational harm” towards their organisation.  

They wrote: “We note that your primary charitable object is to promote human rights. Women also have human rights. We recently won a case in Scotland to protect the human rights of incarcerated women in Scotland. The old Amnesty would have taken that case rather than attack the women who brought it.

“We now ask that you apologise to FWS for the malicious characterisation of our organisation in your report.”

Also reacting to the report, Scottish Labour MP Kirsteen Sullivan posted on social media: “Just catching up on the whole Amnesty carry on. I can only surmise they have not visited Beira’s Place, nor spoken with its founder @jk_rowling (immovable in her defence of women’s rights & spaces), or any other Scottish feminist whom they have denounced, including @mbmpolicy.

“I’m proud to know some of these women & I would stand by them every day of the week. Where was Amnesty when women had to take time out [of] their lives to re-fight the battles we thought were already hard won, in the most hostile of environments? Nowhere to be seen is where they were.”