Aneeta Prem

Last updated

Aneeta Prem
MBE JP
Personal details
BornLondon
NationalityBritish
OccupationMagistrate [1]
President of Freedom Charity
Website www.freedomcharity.org.uk
www.aneeta.com

Aneeta Prem MBE JP is a British author, human rights campaigner, magistrate and the founder and president of Freedom. [1]

Contents

Background

Prem was born in London, England. Her father, Chandra Shekhar Prem, was an author, poet and principal of a girls' college in India.[ citation needed ] Her family originates from Himachal Pradesh in Northern India.[ citation needed ] Prem has close ties with Kote Village, where her father lived.[ citation needed ] In 2000 she helped her father to realise his dream of allowing local girls to continue with their education beyond the age of sixteen.[ citation needed ] She helped to design and build Republic College India which provides further education in a safe, single-sex environment, offering a unique service to the area.[ citation needed ]

Work as a magistrate

Prem is a magistrate who chairs adult, youth and family law courts in some of the busiest courts in London. [2] She is also involved in the recruitment, training and mentoring of new magistrates.

Freedom charity

Prem is the founder and lifetime President of the Freedom charity, [3] which works to protect the lives of children and young people by raising awareness of forced marriage in the UK and the associated problem of dishonour-based violence. [4]

Freedom was established by Prem at the end of 2010. The charity's Chair of Trustees is Lord Toby Harris and the CEO is Vineeta Thornhill.

Author

Aneeta has written two novels aimed at children and young people aged nine years and over. They are called "But It's Not Fair" and "Cut Flowers". "But It's Not Fair draws on her extensive experience supporting child victims of Forced Marriage and dishonour based crimes through her work with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Government Ministers, the police, survivors and her experiences as a magistrate. The story is written from the view of a young British girl, Vinny, whose friend almost becomes a victim of Forced Marriage. The book is presented in a chatty and easy-to-read style, but it carries some powerful messages. It not only raises awareness of Forced Marriage and highlights some of the key signs associated with Forced Marriage, but it also suggests courses of action that could help potential victims. Freedom Charity distributes copies of "But It's Not Fair" free to schools, alongside lesson plans for teachers. The newest novel "Cut Flowers" is about female genital mutilation FGM. Katie and Sophia are just two ordinary girls eagerly awaiting the summer holidays until their teacher, Miss Adams, gives them their summer homework – to prepare a presentation about what they did over the holidays. Little did they know that it would be the start of a lifelong mission to protect young girls all over the world. When Katie finally returns from Africa she needs all of Sophia’s support and creative flair to shine a spotlight on something that’s affecting millions of girls worldwide, but that no one seems to want to talk about… The book has PSHE Association lesson plans to accompany it.

Honours, awards and achievements

Prem is an active member of her local community, has been a primary school governor and has received public recognition for the voluntary and mentoring work she has carried out in London. She received the Commissioner's Commendation for the work she did leading, in an oversight capacity, the South-East Asia Tsunami Police Rescue effort in December 2004 and January 2005 for the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA). She has been the MPA lead member for forced marriages and dishonour based violence, working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and many victims, survivors and community groups to provide independent advice. She also led on MPA estate and property issues, encompassing over 600 operational buildings used by almost 50,000 police officers and staff with a property budget of £1.3 billion. She was also given the lead on Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist issues at the MPA. Prem was the youngest Asian female black belt karate instructor and she established and ran seven karate clubs in the UK. [5]

Prem is one of the people featured in the video [6] [7] produced by the UK Home Office and Freedom Charity to help raise awareness of the change in legislation on 16 June that made forcing someone into marriage a criminal offence. [8]

Honorary Doctor of Letters from the university of Winchester October 2015

London Evening Standard Progress 1000 Award - recognised as one of London's most influential people of the years 2015 and 2016

Prem was awarded the GG2 Leadership Spirit In The Community Award at a ceremony held in London on Wednesday 5 November 2014 [9]

Prem was in the Independent on Sunday's Happy List 2014 (awarded to people to make life better for others) [10] [11]

Prem was interviewed in The London Evening Standard on 25 September "In the past, everyone was just too PC. This is about girls being serially raped" [12]

Prem was chosen by British Airways to be featured as part of their BA 100 campaign. The campaign celebrated 100 makers of Modern Britain, people who make Britain the creative, open-minded, pioneering and welcoming place it is today. [13]

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for charitable service. [14]

Trigeminal Neuralgia

Aneeta's experience of bilateral Trigeminal Neuralgia began in 2010, with severe pain and resulting sleep deprivation. Her condition remained undiagnosed until 2017. MVD Surgery to ameliorate the pain on the right-hand side was performed at UCHL in December 2019. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Rendell</span> English writer (1930–2015)

Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, was an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loughton</span> Town in southwest Essex, England

Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, 12 miles (19 km) north-east of Charing Cross. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Loughton</span> British Conservative politician (born 1962)

Timothy Paul Loughton, is a British politician and former banker who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Worthing and Shoreham from 1997 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families from 2010 to 2012 and has twice served as the Acting Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee in 2016 and 2021, following the respective resignations of Keith Vaz and Yvette Cooper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Deya</span> Kenyan evangelist

Gilbert Juma Deya is a stonemason turned evangelist who lived in Britain from the mid-1990s until 2017, when he was extradited to Kenya to face charges of stealing five children between 1999 and 2004. He was acquitted of the charges in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forced marriage</span> Being married without consenting

Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later forced to stay in the marriage against their will.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clare Balding</span> English broadcaster, journalist, TV presenter and author

Clare Victoria Balding is an English broadcast journalist and author. She currently presents for BBC Sport and Channel 4, and previously BT Sport, and formerly presented the programme Good Morning Sunday on BBC Radio 2. Balding was appointed as the 30th president of the Rugby Football League, serving a two-year term until December 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Shafilea Ahmed</span> 2003 honour killing in Warrington, England

Shafilea Iftikhar Ahmed was a second-generation British-Pakistani girl who was murdered by her parents in a suspected honour killing at the age of 17, due to her refusal to accept an arranged marriage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jemima Goldsmith</span> British journalist and producer (born 1974)

Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith, known professionally by her former married name Jemima Khan, is an English journalist and screenwriter. She is the founder of Instinct Productions, a television production company. As a journalist, she was an associate editor for the British political and cultural magazine The New Statesman and European editor-at-large for the American magazine Vanity Fair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Jenkin, Baroness Jenkin of Kennington</span> British life peer (born 1955)

Anne Caroline Jenkin, Baroness Jenkin of Kennington is a Conservative member of the House of Lords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seema Malhotra</span> British politician (born 1972)

Seema Malhotra is a British politician who has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Migration and Citizenship since July 2024 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Feltham and Heston since 2011. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she has served as Shadow Minister for Skills and Further Education since 2023 and previously sat on the opposition front bench as the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers, Shadow Minister for Employment and a shadow Home Office minister.

Khatun Sapnara is a Bangladeshi-born British judge. In 2006, she was appointed a Recorder of the Crown Court, becoming the first person of Bangladeshi origin in a senior judicial position. In 2014, she was appointed as a Circuit Judge to hear cases in the Crown and Family Court.

Nazia Khanum, OBE, DL is a Bangladeshi-born British management consultant, researcher, Director of Equality in Diversity, non-executive director for NHS Luton and chair of various voluntary community organisations.

The Derby child sex abuse ring was a group of men who sexually abused up to a hundred girls in Derby, England. In 2010, after an undercover investigation by Derbyshire police, members of the ring were charged with 75 offences relating to 26 girls. Nine of the 13 accused were convicted of grooming and raping girls between 12 and 18 years old. The attacks provoked fierce discussion about race and sexual exploitation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal</span> Sexual abuse scandal in Rotherham, England

The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal consists of the organised child sexual abuse that occurred in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England from the late 1980s until 2013 and the failure of local authorities to act on reports of the abuse throughout most of that period. Researcher Angie Heal, who was hired by local officials and warned them about child exploitation occurring between 2002 and 2007, has since described it as the "biggest child protection scandal in UK history", with one report estimating that 1,400 girls were abused by "grooming gangs" between 1997 and 2013. Evidence of the abuse was first noted in the early 1990s, when care home managers investigated reports that children in their care were being picked up by taxi drivers. From at least 2001, multiple reports passed names of alleged perpetrators, several from one family, to the police and Rotherham Council. The first group conviction took place in 2010, when five British-Pakistani men were convicted of sexual offences against girls aged 12–16. From January 2011 Andrew Norfolk of The Times pressed the issue, reporting in 2012 that the abuse in the town was widespread and that the police and council had known about it for over ten years.

On 21 November 2013, Metropolitan Police from the Human Trafficking Unit arrested two suspects at a residential address in Lambeth, South London. A 73-year-old ethnic Indian Singaporean man, Aravindan Balakrishnan, and a 67-year-old Tanzanian woman, his wife, Chanda Pattni, had been investigated for slavery and domestic servitude. The case centred around the Workers' Institute of Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought commune which was led by Balakrishnan. In the early 1980s after a police raid, Balakrishnan decided to move the group's activities underground. Balakrishnan's control over his followers intensified and the commune became a prison to his followers. On 25 October 2013, three women were rescued from the commune‍—‍these were a 69-year-old Malaysian woman, a 57-year-old Northern Irish woman and a 30-year-old London woman. Morgan-Davies was born into the sect and had not experienced the outside world until her release.

Freedom or Freedom Charity is a UK-based charity which supports victims of forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM) and family dishonor. The charity was founded in 2009 by Aneeta Prem and the chair of trustees is Toby Harris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Khan (activist)</span> English human rights activist (born 1980)

Dame Sara Khan is a British human rights activist and the chief executive officer of Inspire, an independent non-governmental organisation working to counter extremism and gender inequality. Khan is a contributor to The Guardian and The Independent newspapers, as well as The Huffington Post and has made appearances on British television and radio. She has been interviewed for the BBC's HARDtalk and Desert Island Discs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Nammi</span> Kurdish and British activist

Diana Nammi is a Kurdish and British activist. She received a Barclays Woman of the Year Award in 2014. She was also named one of the BBC 100 Women in 2014.

Polly Harrar is a British women's rights activist who assists women who have been the victims of forced marriage and honour crimes. She is the founder of the Sharan Project, a member of the Forced Marriage Unit Partnership Board, and a partner of Comic Relief's Our Girl campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Heshu Yones</span> 2002 honour killing in London, England

Heshu Yones was a 16-year-old Iraqi Kurd from Acton, London who was murdered by her father in an honour killing. Abdalla Yones killed his daughter for becoming too "westernised" and for engaging in a relationship against his orders. He was sentenced to life in prison in September 2003, with a minimum term of fourteen years.

References

  1. 1 2 Legge, James (22 November 2013). "London slaves case Aneeta Prem asks do we know what's happening next door". The Independent. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  2. ↑ "Aneeta's for the chop". Loughton Guardian. Newsquest. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  3. ↑ "Aneeta Prem founder of Freedom Charity". Freedom Charity. Freedom Charity. 9 October 2014. Archived from the original on 29 September 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "Freedom". Freedomcharity.org.uk. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  5. ↑ "Founder of Loughton-based Freedom Charity fights to end forced marriage". Loughton Guardian. Newsquest. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  6. ↑ "#Freedom2Choose film With Home Secretary". #Freedom2Choose film With Home Secretary. Freedom Charity / Home Office (UK). 24 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  7. ↑ "Freedom2Choose video". #Freedom2Choose film With Home Secretary. Freedom Charity / YouTube. 15 June 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "Legislation on Forced Marriage". Guidance : Forced marriage. Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Home Office (UK). 24 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  9. ↑ "GG2 Leadership Award Winners 2014". 5 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  10. ↑ "Independent on Sunday Happy List 2014". Independent.co.uk . 25 May 2014. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "Interview with Aneeta Prem". Independent.co.uk . 25 May 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "In the past, everyone was just too PC. This is about girls being serially raped". 25 September 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  13. ↑ "BA100 - 100 makers of Modern Britain". 25 March 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  14. ↑ "No. 63918". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2022. p. N23.
  15. ↑ "The latest news from TNA UK". 1 June 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.