The Charity Commission has contacted trustees and opened a compliance case after assessing concerns raised about Amnesty International UK’s charitable arm.
Amnesty International UK Charitable Trust raised a serious incident report after being criticised for publishing a now-removed briefing in which it accused several organisations of being anti-human rights.
This sparked “extreme concern” from some MPs and condemnation from gender-critical organisations named in the report including author JK Rowling’s sexual assault service Beira’s Place.
Rowling has also invited other organisations named in the report to apply to her fund to help with legal costs should they wish to sue Amnesty International UK.
After initially assessing whether to intervene at Amnesty International UK Charitable Trust, the commission today confirmed that it had opened a compliance case.
“As part of this we are engaging with the charity’s trustees to gather more information,” a spokesperson for the commission added.
In response, a spokesperson for Amnesty International UK’s charitable arm said today that it was “engaging fully” with the regulator to provide all necessary information.
Last week, the organisation expressed regret that it had uploaded the briefing to its website “without going through the established internal review processes” and confirmed that it would not be republished.
“Its use of language does not reflect the position of Amnesty International UK which is why it was promptly removed,” they said at the time.
