United Nations Peacekeeping in Kosovo with Steve Janko

Our next meeting of the Bill Kellogg UNA-BC Discussion Series will be held on Friday, February

20, 1:00 -2:30 p.m. in the Boulder Creek Room of the Main Branch of the Boulder Public Library.

Our discussion on “United Nations Peacekeeping in Kosovo” will be led by Steve Janko.

Steve Janko is a resident of Colorado Springs and a retired attorney who specialized in

international law. While he was still a university student, he took the fall 2000 semester off from

his international law studies at the University of Miami and volunteered to join a United Nations

peacekeeping effort to help refugees return to their homes in Kosovo. In his role as an army

reservist and peacekeeper, Steve helped protect churches from sabotage, searched vehicles for

weapons, and promoted peace through interviews on Kosovo radio shows. Steve's work also

involved ensuring Kosovo's 2000 elections went smoothly by planning the transportation of

election ballots and ensuring that the 80 election sites in the American sector were safe for

voters. After serving in Kosovo, Steve completed his international law studies and began serving

around the world as an active-duty military attorney for nearly 20 years.

Steve remains a big proponent of the United Nations, international law and multilateralism.

Steve will discuss the importance of following the UN Charter and obtaining a UN Security

Council resolution prior to the use of military forces in countries like Bosnia and Kosovo, and the

major issues which occur when there is no UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of

force, as seen, for example, in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The peacekeeping missions in

Bosnia and Kosovo demonstrated how the UN can help to define a mission with obtainable

humanitarian goals, including the establishment of safe zones for ethnic minorities, working

toward economic and political stabilization, and supporting temporary administrative

governments guided by UN experts and NGOs with decades of experience. Unilateral military

actions without UN security council approval often fail because they have no international legal

authority or support, may lack a clearly defined mission, and fail to tap into the expertise which

NGOs and UN experts can provide to support the mission. After Steve's presentation on his

peacekeeping experience in Kosovo he'll open the forum up to questions about the current

challenges faced by the UN and multilateralism and what we can do to bolster the rule of law.

I hope you will be able to attend this important discussion. Please feel free to invite other

members of the community who might be interested in this topic. If you have any questions or

suggestions, please contact Robert McNown at mcnownr@gmail.com.