Amnesty International UK has expressed regret for releasing a report that included the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and many Christian and Catholic organisations on a list of “anti-rights” organisations. Source: Crux.
The report, titled A Growing Threat: The Anti-Rights Movement in the UK, was published last week and immediately caused a furore as it also listed a sexual violence support center set up by JK Rowling in Edinburgh as being “anti-rights.”
The report listed 117 organisations it said were working to undermine the rights of women and LGBT+ people.
This included the bishops’ conference, Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, the Evangelical Alliance UK, the Christian Institute, Christian Concern, and the Catholic Herald. The report called for the charity status of many of the organisations to be reviewed.
A spokesperson for CBCEW said the conference always works to uphold “the God-given rights of all humanity”.
“The Catholic Church works to uphold the God-given rights of all humanity, without exception. This includes the rights of those unjustly imprisoned, of refugees and migrants, of those who have been trafficked, and the right to life of all people from conception to natural death,” the spokesperson said.
“Furthermore, we uphold the right to freedom of religion, conscience and expression as explained in the document of the Second Vatican Council, Dignitatis Humanae. Our belief in the dignity of every person, from which a proper understanding of human rights comes, animates all our work in the field of social justice in England and Wales,” they added.
Amnesty International UK has now said the report was uploaded without the usual checks and that it had been temporarily withdrawn.
“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,” a statement from the human rights charity said.
“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,” it added.
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Amnesty International UK regrets report calling British bishops’ conference “anti-rights” group (By Fionn Shiner, Crux)
