A FORMER karate instructor is facing her toughest fight yet as she bids to help the victims of forced marriage – from her kitchen table.
Campaigner Aneeta Prem is the founder of Freedom Charity, which she runs from her home in Loughton, and has recently penned her debut novel.
On Monday (July 9), she sent a copy of But It’s Not Fair – a fictional account of a British girl forced into marriage – to each of the UK’s 650 MPs.
“We want to put the question to every one of them – how are you going to support the victims of forced marriage?,” said Aneeta, a magistrate and ex-black belt instructor.
“Because it is a huge problem. Every time I go into local schools there is always one person who has been affected or knows somebody who has been.”
Aneeta first encountered the issue while running karate classes throughout East London at the age of just 17. One of her pupils, an ‘amazingly talented’ teenage girl, disappeared suddenly from her class.
Aneeta later learnt she had been forced into an arranged marriage in Pakistan, where she was raped and beaten by her husband, and had eventually committed suicide.
Inspired by her pupil’s fate – and by her experiences as a magistrate in Redbridge – Aneeta set up Freedom Charity at the end of 2010.
Freedom is run entirely by volunteers who man a 24-hour text helpline that can receive texts and calls from victims or potential victims anywhere in the world.
The team also visit schools to raise awareness of the cause among teenagers and staff.
Aneeta said: “There weren’t any other charities that were dealing with this on a national level. I met David Cameron recently and he said we were the only charity doing so much.
“As soon as someone texts or telephones Freedom for help, our call centre will alert the Foreign Office who will take immediate action to rescue that person and bring them home.”
Aneeta is now on a mission to see a copy of her book in every school library – and is particularly keen to get her message across to Epping Forest’s pupils as the summer holidays approach.
“I would say to readers that anyone in your life could get forced into marriage - and it isn’t just an Asian issue,” she said.
“If your friend’s talking about how they’re going abroad this summer for a wedding, is it actually going to be their own wedding?
“Try to help them to take a cheap phone and an international sim with them and make sure you know the address.
“But of course it’s better for it not to happen in the first place.”
For more information about Freedom Charity, visit www.freedomcharity.org.uk. If you believe you, or anyone you know, is at risk of forced marriage, you can phone Freedom on 0845 607 0113 or text ‘4freedom’ to 88802.
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