Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Photo's: the ushers of the Protocolbureau

This weekend, the Roosevelt Stichting awarded Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former president of Brazil, with the 2012 International Four Freedoms Award. In addition, the Roosevelt Stichting selected the recipients of the medals for each of the Four Freedoms:
- Freedom of Speech and Expression: Al Jazeera
- Freedom of Worship: His All Holiness Archbishop Bartholomew I
- Freedom from Want: Ela Ramesh Bhatt
- Freedom from Fear: Hussain al-Shahristani

The Roosevelt Stichting is a private foundation dedicated to informing new generations of the ideals and achievements of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Representatives of the Roosevelt Stichting along with representatives of the U.S.-based Roosevelt Institute, selected this year’s laureates.

Since 1982, the centenary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s birth, the Roosevelt Institute and the Roosevelt Stichting have awarded Four Freedoms medals each year to individuals who exemplify the vision of the Four Freedoms that President Roosevelt outlined in his famous January 6, 1941 speech. The laureates are chosen, based on their lifetime commitment to these ideals, which President Roosevelt, described as essential conditions of human liberty.


The awards were presented at a ceremony held in the Nieuwe Kerk (“New Chuch”) in Middelburg, the Netherlands. The Protocolbureau assisted in welcoming and seating the more than 500 guests and dignitaries. Also, each Laureate was escorted by an usher of the Protocolbureau.
In 1996 the Four Freedoms Awards was the Protocolbureau's first event. This was proceeded by a lecture on protocol by the former Master of Ceremonies, Gilbert Monod de Froideville. Last weekend, the Protocolbureau assisted the organisation for the 9th time.