ABOUT
About Aneeta Prem
Aneeta Prem MBE is a British author, safeguarding campaigner, magistrate and charity leader. Her work focuses on forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), Dishonour Abuse and safeguarding education. She also lives with bilateral trigeminal neuralgia and speaks publicly about her experience of severe facial pain.
She co-founded Freedom Charity with Lord Toby Harris in 2009 and is Chief Executive of Trigeminal Neuralgia Association UK. Across both areas, her concern is practical: whether people are heard early enough for help to make a difference.
From Bethnal Green to Himachal Pradesh
Aneeta was born and raised in Bethnal Green, within the sound of London’s Bow Bells. Her family came from Himachal Pradesh in northern India, and her childhood connected the East End of London with the language, landscape and traditions of the Himalayan foothills.
Her father, Chandra Shekhar Prem, was an author, poet and educator. He believed that education could change not only an individual life but the future of a community. Aneeta’s mother, Savita Prem, provided the constancy, determination and care that held family life together.
EDUCATION AS FREEDOM
The college at Jahu
In 2000, Chandra Shekhar Prem began building the Republic College of India at Jahu, fulfilling a long-standing family ambition. The college opened in 2002. Chandra Shekhar Prem had served as a principal in Jalandhar, where he first met Savita Prem. The college reflected their shared belief in education and greater choice for young people, especially girls.
For Aneeta, the college made an old family belief tangible: education can expand a person’s choices. That idea later became central to her safeguarding work, where knowing your rights and knowing where to ask for help can alter what happens next.
Law, discipline and public service
Before her national campaigning work, Aneeta became a qualified Black Belt karate instructor. Teaching martial arts reinforced her belief that confidence, discipline and practical skills can change how girls and young women understand their own strength.
Aneeta was appointed as a magistrate in 2002 and has served in adult, youth and family courts in London. She has also contributed to the recruitment, training and mentoring of magistrates.
As a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, she worked within public oversight at a time when policing, confidence and the treatment of vulnerable people demanded sharper scrutiny.
FREEDOM CHARITY
Campaigning, education and help
Aneeta co-founded Freedom Charity with Lord Toby Harris in 2009. The charity’s work combines education, public campaigning, professional awareness and routes to practical help on forced marriage, FGM and Dishonour Abuse. On 18 September 2026, Freedom Charity won the National Diversity Awards Community Organisation Award for Gender.
Through Freedom Charity, Aneeta campaigned for forced marriage to become a criminal offence, gave evidence to Parliament in 2013 and was part of the #Freedom2Choose campaign when the law changed in 2014. Her later campaigning has also addressed child marriage, virginity testing and hymenoplasty.
Freedom Charity has challenged the language of “honour” for many years. In evidence to Parliament in 2013, Aneeta used the terms “dishonour violence” and “dishonour crime”; today Freedom uses and campaigns for Dishonour Abuse. Official legal terminology is retained where precision requires it.
Explore human rights and safeguardingHonour-based abuse / Dishonour AbuseFGM safeguarding and preventionForced marriage law and safeguardingBilateral trigeminal neuralgia and patient voiceWhy she wrote the books
Aneeta wrote But It’s Not Fair and Cut Flowers to make difficult safeguarding subjects understandable without placing the burden of disclosure on a child. The stories allow a reader to recognise pressure, secrecy and risk through fictional characters before having to speak about their own life.
The books are accompanied by educational material intended to support safe, responsible classroom discussion.
Discover the booksLiving with trigeminal neuralgia
Aneeta’s first severe facial-pain attacks began in September 2009. The condition went unrecognised for years. She was eventually diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia and underwent right-sided microvascular decompression surgery in December 2019, excited by the prospect of becoming pain-free on that side. The operation did not relieve her trigeminal neuralgia pain, and she continues to live with bilateral TN.
She leads the charity as both a chief executive and a patient. That gives her a close view of the gap between what services intend to provide and what severe facial pain can make difficult in everyday life. Her role is patient advocacy and charity leadership, not clinical advice.
Read about Aneeta’s TN workRecognition and public record
Aneeta was appointed MBE in the 2023 New Year Honours for charitable service and received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Winchester.
Her current public roles include trustee of The Neurological Alliance and co-chair of Learn About Britain.
Learn About Britain co-chair record ↗Neurological Alliance trustee record ↗A THREAD THROUGH THE WORK
Across safeguarding and patient advocacy, the practical question is similar: was the person heard early enough for help to make a difference?