US News Metro Long Island Politics

Sports NFL MLB Olympics NBA NHL College Football College Basketball WNBA

Entertainment TV Movies Music Celebrities Awards Theater

Lifestyle Weird But True Sex & Relationships Viral Trends Human Interest Parenting Fashion & Beauty Food & Drink Travel

Health Wellness Fitness Health Care Medicine Men’s Health Women’s Health Mental Health Nutrition

Science Space Environment Wildlife Archaeology

Today’s Paper Covers Columnists Horoscopes Crosswords & Games Sports Odds Podcasts Careers

Email Newsletters Official Store Home Delivery Tips

Switch between CA and NY editions here.

My grandfather cofounded Amnesty International to protect freedom of conscience. Today, the organization does the opposite.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

My grandfather cofounded Amnesty International. He wouldn’t recognize it today.

On July 8, 2026, Amnesty International UK published a report titled “A Growing Threat: The Anti-Rights Movement in the UK.” Included in the list of “anti-rights” villains: a rape crisis center in Scotland, various women’s rights groups and Christian societies. They were accused of “undermining human rights protections in law and practice.”

Many of the 117 organizations identified in the report immediately pushed back, publishing letters of objection online and sending them directly to the CEO and Chair of AIUK. Within 48 hours Amnesty removed the report from their website. On July 31, AIUK issued a public apology stating that the report did not meet their standards.

But their standards have long been much too low.

Amnesty was created to defend human rights. The global brand was built on evidence-led, case-by-case methods. One prisoner, one file, one fact-checked case. In my family, we sat around the kitchen table making Christmas cards for prisoners of conscience and writing letters to the authorities that imprisoned them. I was raised to believe that freedom of expression is a fundamental safeguard in democracy. 

My family learned that through bitter experience. My grandfather Sean MacBride had been a political prisoner himself and cofounded the charity as a “permanent international movement in defence of freedom of opinion and........

© New York Post