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One of the world’s biggest charities has apologised to bosses of JK Rowling’s rape support centre after branding it ‘anti-rights’.

Amnesty International UK found itself at the centre of an extraordinary row over its ‘deeply damaging’ report.

It was removed from Amnesty’s website after organisations including Beira’s Place – founded by Ms Rowling – sent legal letters threatening to sue.

Beira’s Place, a female-only service for victims of sexual violence, was also called an ‘anti-trans’ organisation in a previous Amnesty report. In a statement, Amnesty International said: ‘We apologise for the publication of the briefing “A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK”.

‘This document should never have been published.

‘The briefing was taken down within 48 hours, as soon as management were notified of its existence, was not actively promoted, and will not be republished.

‘We have an ongoing internal investigation into how this briefing came to be published.’ The charity added: ‘Whilst we do not share the views of all these organisations, we recognise the concerns raised by those labelled as “anti-rights” in the document.

‘To be clear: this labelling does not represent our institutional position, and we apologise for its inclusion. In particular, we apologise to Beira’s Place and other groups, which we categorised as gender-critical organisations, which we should not have collectively labelled as anti-rights.’

Amnesty International apologised for calling JK Rowing's rape support centre 'anti-rights' in a report

Another Amnesty report – ‘Like a Snowball: The Growth and Impact of the Gender Critical Movement in the UK’ – named Beira’s Place in a list of 50 other ‘gender-critical groups’.

Amnesty said it had ‘also taken down an earlier more discursive briefing (entitled Like A Snowball) which also referenced a wide range of organisations’.

The charity said it ‘holds itself to the highest standards of research, evidence and editorial oversight in all its publications’.

It added: ‘We have concluded that this briefing fell significantly short of those standards. We will commission an external review to learn from this moment.’

It said it ‘remains fully committed to defending the human rights, dignity, and equality of all marginalised groups, including women, girls, and members of the trans community’. When the row erupted, Harry Potter author Ms Rowling said: ‘It’s amazing Amnesty think they’re heroes when they’re attacking female rape victims for wanting a male-free support service.’

Amnesty International is one of the world's biggest charities

The writer, who once worked for Amnesty, added: ‘It no longer champions freedom of speech and belief. It has become the tyrant that persecutes those who don’t espouse what it decrees as acceptable beliefs.’

'Beira’s Place had warned that ‘unless Amnesty is willing’ to issue a public apology as part of a series of demands ‘preparations for litigation will commence’.

Ms Rowling, who turned 61 yesterday, posted on social media: ‘Your apology for labelling women-only rape support centre Beira’s Place “anti-rights” is a nice birthday present. Cheers.

‘And congratulations to all the other women’s and LGB organisations Amnesty acknowledges having wrongly smeared as “anti-rights”.’

A Beira’s Place statement said: ‘While the apology is welcomed, it does not rectify the reputational damage caused to Beira’s Place.

‘Although the apology extends to those groups classed as “gender critical”, it is noteworthy that many other organisations were defamed by Amnesty for simply upholding the protected belief that sex is real, immutable and important in many areas of life.

‘Those organisations also deserve a written apology.’