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Amnesty International has come under fire after publishing a report branding the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), alongside dozens of Christian, pro-life and gender-critical organisations, as part of the “anti-rights movement” in the UK.
The report, A Growing Threat: The Anti-Rights Movement in the UK, listed 117 organisations that it claimed work together to undermine the rights of women and LGBT+ people. Among those named were SPUC, the Christian Institute, the Evangelical Alliance, CARE, Christian Concern, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, the Christian Medical Fellowship, Alliance Defending Freedom UK, Christians in Parliament, the Catholic Herald, and several pregnancy support organisations.
The report effectively lumps every major pro-life organisation in Britain alongside many of the country’s leading Christian organisations and groups campaigning to protect single-sex spaces as working to roll back human rights protections. It is alluded that we form part of a wider “anti-rights ecosystem.”
This accusation is extraordinary. Organisations dedicated to defending unborn children from state sanctioned slaughter, supporting pregnant women, protecting freedom of religion and conscience, and campaigning for the vulnerable have found themselves portrayed as opponents of human rights.
The irony should not be lost on anybody. Amnesty International was founded in London in 1961 by the Christian barrister Peter Benenson. Motivated by his Christian faith, he launched the organisation after reading about two Portuguese students imprisoned for raising a toast to liberty under the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar. His famous “Appeal for Amnesty” called on ordinary people to unite in defence of prisoners of conscience, those imprisoned simply for peacefully expressing their beliefs or religion under totalitarianism.
More than six decades later, Amnesty has deserted that founding mission. The organisation has repeatedly declined to defend pro-life volunteers arrested or investigated for silently praying within abortion buffer zones, despite those cases raising obvious questions about freedom of conscience and expression in relation to the law, the very fight upon which Amnesty was created.
Instead, the report decries even crisis pregnancy centres and recommends that the Charity Commission review the charitable status of organisations it considers “anti-rights.” It also calls on the NHS not to signpost women towards pregnancy support centres.
Michael Robinson, SPUC’s Executive Director, said the report “conflates faith with being anti-choice and bizarrely part of some large Machiavellian conspiracy.” He said that Benenson, having been motivated by his faith to establish Amnesty, would be “shocked” by the report.
“I am sure he would also be alarmed at branding groups which champion single sex spaces, religious liberty, the rights of the unborn, and defend the rights of disabled people at the end of life, as anti-rights in this way,” Robinson said.
He continued: “It is a shame that Amnesty, who claim to champion human rights, remain silent on so many issues, such as Christians being arrested for silent prayer if they are deemed to be standing in an abortion centre buffer zone. But should we be surprised? Amnesty has long since abandoned any pretence of defending the ultimate human right – the right to life.
“In recent years, Christians have faced growing hostility and, as a former Archbishop of Canterbury said, being forced out of the public square. Ideologically captured campaign groups pick and choose which rights they think are important and worth defending. It is so sad that they never appear to be those of Christians.”
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Murdo Fraser MSP also condemned the report, saying he was “appalled and disgusted” by its contents and had written to Amnesty demanding “an urgent explanation and apology.” He added: “I fully intend to raise this matter with the Charity Commission. You should be ashamed.”
Following widespread criticism, Amnesty International said: “We have temporarily removed this briefing while it undergoes an internal review. Amnesty International UK remains committed to researching and campaigning on human rights issues, including our vital work defending trans rights.”
If you would like to read the withdrawn report, click here.
