Christians report Amnesty International over 'explicit call to discriminate' against faithful

Christian organisations have reported Amnesty International over an "explicit call to discriminate" against faithful communities, in a now-withdrawn report.

Eleven groups alleged the paper, "A Growing Threat: the Anti-Rights Movement in the UK", contained "an explicit call to discriminate against" their organisations.

Amnesty UK is already facing threatened legal action from JK Rowling after the same briefing labelled gender-critical feminists and women's support services as "anti-rights".

Coordinated by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the latest complainants say the document was riddled with "a range of sweeping generalisations, allegations and inaccuracies".

The report condemned Christian charities alongside grassroots groups that support women fleeing sexual abuse and those campaigning for sex-based rights.

A letter seen by The Times reads: "In most cases the only thing these organisations share is disagreement with Amnesty International UK's position on a handful of contested questions relating to the value of preborn human life, human sexuality or the immutability of sex."

The complainants include Affinity, the Catholic Medical Association, Christian Concern, the Christian Institute, the Christian Medical Fellowship, the Evangelical Alliance, Lovewise and the Premier Christian Media Trust.

Their letter says the report urged the Charity Commission to "review the awarding of charitable status" to targeted groups and recommended donors "strengthen due diligence processes to reduce the risk of funding organisations whose activities undermine human rights protections".

The organisations argue: "These recommendations constitute an explicit call to discriminate against our organisations by removing the mechanisms and resources that enable much of our work to continue."

The ADF's Robert Clarke said: "It reflects a broader pattern of attempts to delegitimise organisations of faith and we believe it's important to set out clearly what happened and why it matters not just for us but for the sector as a whole."

Amnesty's briefing listed more than 100 organisations as part of what it called an anti-rights movement, including Beira's Place, the Edinburgh sexual violence support centre founded by Ms Rowling in 2022.

Lawyers for Beira's Place have accused Amnesty of defamation and demanded a full apology, permanent withdrawal of the report and an external review into its publication.

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The author has offered funding through the JK Rowling Women's Fund to other listed organisations considering legal action, describing the document as a "blacklist".

The report also named For Women Scotland, which won a Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 confirming that "woman" in the Equality Act refers to biological sex.

Amnesty UK has since referred itself to the Charity Commission by filing a serious incident report. No formal investigation has been opened yet.

The Charity Commission confirmed it would consider the Christian groups' letter as part of its regulatory compliance case into Amnesty International UK Charitable Trust.

It added: "We continue to actively engage with the charity's trustees on this matter."

The EHRC confirmed receipt of the complaint, noting that it "considers each complaint carefully" and takes action where appropriate.

An Amnesty International UK spokesman said: "The rights of one community do not diminish the rights of another.

"While the term 'anti-rights' is widely used by scholars, civil society organisations and UN experts, Amnesty International has used the term primarily to describe trends or agendas."

The charity acknowledged the briefing bypassed its established internal review processes and said it was conducting a thorough review into how the failure occurred.

Amnesty added: "No community should be singled out for unfair treatment or denied their dignity and rights."

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