ANEETA PREM’S HUMAN-RIGHTS FRAMEWORK
The Five Freedoms
Choose. Refuse. Leave. Learn. Be.
Developed by Aneeta Prem, the Five Freedoms are a practical human-rights and safeguarding framework for asking one simple question: What freedom is being denied?
THE QUESTION AT THE CENTRE
What freedom is being denied?
A person can have rights in law and still be unable to exercise them safely. The Five Freedoms help make that loss of choice visible.
Freedom to choose
Can this person make decisions about their own life freely and safely?
Choice is not genuine simply because somebody has said yes. If saying something different may bring violence, abandonment, financial punishment, threats or serious retaliation, we need to look beyond the apparent answer.
Freedom to refuse
Can this person safely say no?
The freedom to choose has little meaning without the freedom to refuse. Coercion can be emotional as well as physical: a person may be told that a parent will become ill, harm themselves or die if they refuse a marriage or go against family expectations.
WHAT COERCION CAN LOOK LIKE
“If you say no, your mother will harm herself.”
Coercion is not always physical. Threats of self-harm, illness, rejection or family collapse can make another person feel responsible for terrible consequences if they exercise a choice.
Can this person really refuse freely if saying no feels dangerous?
Freedom to leave
Can this person leave safely, and what may happen if they try?
Having a legal right to leave does not automatically make leaving safe. Surveillance, stalking, financial dependency, threats, isolation or fear for other people can make separation dangerous. The better question is not “Why don’t they leave?” but “What might happen if they do?”
Freedom to learn
Can this person gain the education, information and opportunity needed to shape their own future?
Education gives people language to recognise abuse, understand their rights and seek help. Restricting education can also restrict employment, financial independence and future choices.
Freedom to be
Can this person live as themselves without fear of punishment, coercion or violence?
This may concern sexuality, gender identity, belief, disability, relationships, personal values or how somebody chooses to live. Family reputation or somebody else’s idea of who a person ought to be can never justify abuse.
From safeguarding to patient voice
The Five Freedoms grew from work that crosses subjects often treated separately. A child facing forced marriage and a patient living with severe facial pain are not experiencing the same harm. Yet both may be disbelieved, controlled by systems they cannot navigate and left without a meaningful voice.
What freedom is being denied?
WHY THE FIVE FREEDOMS MATTER
People do not always use professional language.
I am not allowed to choose.
I cannot say no.
I cannot leave.
They will stop me studying.
I cannot be who I am.
Those words matter. The framework brings attention back to the person whose choices are disappearing.
THE CENTRAL PROPOSITION
A right has limited value if a person cannot exercise it safely.
Using the Five Freedoms
The Five Freedoms can be used as a prompt for reflection in safeguarding, education, health, social care, policing, housing and related professional settings. They do not create new legal rights and are not a statutory test, clinical tool or validated risk-assessment instrument. They do not replace safeguarding procedures, specialist risk assessment, professional judgement or the law.