AMMAN — The 2014 Four Freedoms Medal for Freedom of Worship will be awarded to HRH Prince Hassan on May 24 in Middelburg, The Netherlands, Han Polman, the chairman of the Roosevelt Foundation, announced on Wednesday.
“Throughout his life,” Prince Hassan “has been dedicated to the improvement of mutual understanding between the Islamic and Western worlds, and enhancing dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews,” said a statement from the prince’s office.
He has initiated, founded and is actively involved in a number of local and international institutes and committees that promote interfaith dialogue and human dignity.
The prince has co-chaired the Independent Commission on International Humanitarian Issues and is currently the chairman of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies and the Foundation for Inter-religious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue, the statement said.
He is also chair emeritus of the World Conference of Religions for Peace.
In 2013 he was appointed as chairman of the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation.
Previous recipients of the Freedom of Worship Medal include Desmond Tutu, Teddy Kollek, Nasr H. Abu Zayd, Terry Waite and Karen Armstrong.
“The Four Freedoms Medals are presented each year to men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to the principles which [US] President [Franklin D.] Roosevelt proclaimed in his historic speech to Congress on January 6, 1941,” the statement said.
In this speech, he said that if democracy is to survive and flourish, people everywhere in the world are entitled to four human rights: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.
The Roosevelt Foundation in Middelburg and the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in New York work “to inspire people to promote these four freedoms everywhere in the world”.
The Four Freedoms Awards ceremony takes place in Middelburg in the even years and in New York in the odd years, according to the statement.
