Conference Summary & Select Highlights

The Ethiopian Community Development Council held its 17 th national conference from May 2-4, 2011 at the Holiday Inn Arlington in Virginia. This year’s conference theme African Refugees and Immigrants 60 Years after the Refugee Convention: Challenges and Opportunities was selected in part to acknowledge the 60 th year anniversary of the founding of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and to honor the vision of those who created the United Nation’s Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. While part of the conference was dedicated to setting the historical context and examining the current state of affairs regarding refugees on the continent and beyond, other sessions focused on current global and local challenges and opportunities facing African refugees and immigrants. Read more. . .