After a predictable backlash

Michael Nugent on the Amnesty report:

An Amnesty UK report has grouped together, under the label of a single ‘anti-rights movement’, two very different types of organisation. One is those who promote conservative Christian beliefs about social issues. The other is those who promote the sex-based rights of women and LGB people. It called for reviews of their charitable status, services, funding, and activities.

After a predictable backlash, Amnesty has withdrawn the report pending an internal review. That’s useful, but Amnesty also must address the harmful impact of having published it in the first place. This has hurt the reputations of those it unjustly maligned, and Amnesty’s own credibility as a human rights group.

Something similar happened six years ago. Amnesty Ireland called on the media to ‘end giving airtime to’, and politicians to ‘no longer provide legitimate representation for’ people promoting the sex-based rights of women and LGB people. These attitudes are bad enough coming from individuals on social media, but much worse coming from a human rights body.

And also much worse, in my view, when the attitudes in question are based on a ridiculous fiction and indifference to women’s rights. Quite a lot of reason to disapprove when you add it all up.

For some reason, the current Amnesty UK report does not address people of religions other than Christianity who promote conservative beliefs about social issues. Why is this? Some of these people not only promote their beliefs as public policy, but actively enforce them on women, LGBT people, and children within their communities.

We all know why is this. It’s because Amnesty doesn’t want to be called “Islamophobic” and perhaps even because it thinks Islam is a good thing in some way.