Visit UNHCR at the National Council for the Social Studies Conference

November 4, 2009

Dear Educator,

Stop by UNHCR's information booth at the annual NCSS conference being held this year in Atlanta, November 13-15. We will be located at Booth 335 in International Alley.

At the booth, you will find information on UNHCR's operations worldwide and free materials for the classroom, including posters, fact sheets and DVDs. The booth will be staffed by a UNHCR field officer who can answer your questions about global refugee issues from a first hand perspective.

UNHCR Awards the late Senator Kennedy with Nansen Refugee Award

UNHCR's annual Nansen Refugee Award was presented to the wife of the late Senator Edward Kennedy at a ceremony in Washington where friends and colleagues paid tribute to his life-long commitment to refugee rights.

Senator Kennedy was selected as the award recipient earlier this year in recognition of his work in establishing US refugee admissions, resettlement and asylum programs that directly helped millions of persecuted individuals to find protection and start new lives in the United States. He was the chief sponsor of more than 70 refugee-related measures and was instrumental in codifying international refugee obligations into US law.

The Nansen Refugee Award is given annually to an individual or organization for outstanding work on behalf of refugees. It was created in 1954 in honor of Fridtjof Nansen, legendary Norwegian polar explorer, scientist and the League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The first winner of the Nansen Refugee Award was Eleanor Roosevelt. Read the full story.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy has a smile and a handshake for an unidentified young refugee in an eastern Sudan camp in 1984. Many of the refugees had walked for a week to reach the camp from Eritrea.
AP Photo/Robert Dear