Save Ukraine receives international Four Freedoms Award 2024
In April 2024 the Ukrainian organization Save Ukraine will receive the 2024 International Four Freedoms Medal. Mykola Kuleba, founder of Save Ukraine, will receive the award at the ceremony which takes place in Middelburg on April 11th. Han Polman, President of the Roosevelt Foundation and King’s commissioner in Zeeland, announced this news on the eve of January 6th. On this day President Franklin Delano Roosevelt held his famous Four Freedoms speech before American Congress.
About Save Ukraine
Save Ukraine Rescue Network is a charitable organization that rescues Ukraine’s most vulnerable from combat zones and returns Ukrainian children from Russia and occupied territories. The organization is best known for its efforts and involvement in the return of kidnapped Ukrainian children. Save Ukraine also evacuates people from the frontlines and runs a growing network of community centers that helps with war related trauma and provides food, shelter, medical and mental healthcare.
Since the invasion of Ukraine many thousands of Ukrainian children have been abducted, deprived of their identity, their culture and their fundamental freedoms. They have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territories against their will and under pressure. This is cruel, disrupts families and is considered a war crime by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Save Ukraine commits itself to helping these children return, so they can be reunited with their families. With the assistance of Save Ukraine the children and their families are trying to resume their lives again.
The Roosevelt Foundation value highly the efforts of Save Ukraine. Therefore the International Four Freedoms Medal is awarded to this NGO. Chair Han Polman: ”The medal is also a recognition and appreciation of the courage and enormous resilience of all people in Ukraine who continue to fight for their fundamental freedoms, for human dignity, justice and democracy.”
On behalf of Save Ukraine, Mykola Kuleba conveys his appreciation for the nomination: “I would like to express our sincere gratitude for the recognition. This acknowledgment inspires us to continue our mission with even greater dedication and commitment.”
About the Four Freedoms Awards
The Four Freedoms Medals are presented each year to men, women and organizations whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to the principles which President Roosevelt proclaimed in his historic speech to Congress on 6 January 1941. In this speech, he said that for democracy to survive and prosper, people around the world are entitled to four freedoms: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. Important words that have not lost any of their value and meaning even after 83 years.
Earlier Freedoms Medals were awarded to some of the most distinguished world citizens of their time, including Harry S. Truman, H.R.H. Princess Juliana of The Netherlands, Nelson Mandela, J. William Fulbright, Arthur Miller, Jimmy Carter, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Malala Yousafzai, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and dr. Angela Merkel.
