Freedom Charity is governed by eight trustees who oversee its strategy, finances, safeguarding and risk.
Diana LargeTrusteeView the official trustee register ↗ Governance and due diligence ↗
Aneeta Prem MBE is Founder and President of Freedom Charity, which she co-founded with Lord Toby Harris in 2009. She is also a current trustee. Her work brings together safeguarding, education, public policy and practical prevention on forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM) and Dishonour Abuse.
In June 2013 she gave evidence to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee considering the legislation that introduced the specific forced-marriage offence in England and Wales. Her evidence focused on prevention, education, victim protection and the forms of control that can sit behind forced marriage.
She is the author of But It’s Not Fair and Cut Flowers, books used alongside Freedom Charity’s safeguarding education and school resources. Her approach has consistently linked law and policy with the practical question of whether a young person knows their rights, recognises risk and can find a safe route to help.
In the 2023 New Year Honours she was appointed MBE for charitable service.
For verified interviews, speeches and public commentary, see Freedom Charity’s media page. For her wider biography and public record, visit aneeta.com.
Daniel has a 35-year background in BBC broadcast engineering and 18 years as a Magistrate in East London adult and youth criminal courts, where he worked alongside Aneeta Prem, co-founder of Freedom Charity. In 2019 he began supporting Freedom Charity by chairing meetings and helping to establish its Board of Trustees. Daniel also serves on the trustee boards of British Wireless for the Blind Fund and WaveLength Charity. He is a seasonal guide in outdoor learning with Lee Valley Regional Park Youth and Schools and supports the Friends of Suntrap. Freedom works to prevent abuse and help people seek support.
The Charity Commission currently lists eight Freedom Charity trustees in total. In addition to the trustees profiled separately on this page, the register lists Ciaran Peter O’Shea, Shameen Katharina Mimi Highfield JP and Diana Large.
The official register should be treated as the current source if trustee details change. View Freedom Charity’s trustee record.
Geraldine has over 35 years experience of working in education, in schools, universities and with a not-for-profit charity leading on implementation of large-scale education reform and teacher professional development programmes for the Department of Education (DfE) in England and for Ministries of Education in the Middle East. Geraldine works extensively to promote access to education for girls and for vulnerable refugee groups. Geraldine promotes research to achieve gender equality and is passionate about protecting human rights and preventing dishonour abuse against women and girls. She holds an MSc and a PhD and promotes gender equity as an author of books, research papers and Blogs.
Selda has worked within the education sector since 2003 in a range of roles and responsibilities. She is currently Head of Faculty of Business & Computing at City of London Academy, Shoreditch Park, Hackney with responsibilities for teaching & learning, curriculum development, internal verification, development on enterprise and mentoring trainee students. She has received several awards, recognition and media attention for her ongoing educational and charitable work and commitment to education and the local community such as; the Jack Petchey Award, and the London Legacy Development Corporation Community Champion Award for the London Borough of Hackney.
At Freedom Charity she is an advocate and representative on behalf of women within the local community who have been forced into marriages and victims of domestic violence. She has appeared on ITV’s Daybreak morning programme, BBC Radio 4 women’s hour, BBC Radio Asian Network, Al Jazeera TV, and attend several events at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Theresa started her career in Computers and Accounting which encompassed, over a number of years, Technical Support, Consulting and Project Management. She enjoys travelling and learning about different cultures and customs, having spent a number of years living in Egypt. Her last role before retiring was ten years as a Senior School Registrar for Buckinghamshire New University in the Faculty of Society and Health, mainly dealing with nursing and social work students working in Adult, Child, Mental Health and Learning Disability placements.
