Join the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Foreign Policy Institute (FPI) in a conversation with alumnus Jasmin Cesko about his experience fleeing Bosnia in 1995. Hear Jasmin tell his story along with his SAIS Professor, Edward P. Joseph, who coordinated the evacuation of Zepa as a UN official during the fateful days in July 1995.
To attend in person, please register via Eventbrite or watch on YouTube with this link.
About the Speakers
Jasmin Cesko was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and raised in the eastern Bosnian town of Zepa, surviving war and genocide in his early childhood years. Arriving in the United States at the age of 10, Jasmin, his parents, and two younger siblings made New Hampshire home where they contributed to establishing the Association of Bosniaks of New Hampshire (ABNH). He later graduated with a bachelor’s in Political Science and International Affairs from the University of New Hampshire and a master’s in International Relations and European and Eurasian Studies from SAIS.
He now works as the Policy Lead in the Office of Policy and Program Analysis at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Washington, DC and is a passionate humanitarian. Jasmin has focused his career to advance innovative solutions to help protect people and infrastructure from the impacts of climate change and to advocate for the most vulnerable communities. He has deployed to the field in multiple disaster areas across the United States to coordinate and deliver aid.
Jasmin’s professional career is complimentary to his community leadership role as the co-founder of the American-Bosnian Coalition, an organization dedicated to building a network of Bosnian-American communities and strengthening ties between the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He is married and resides in Northern Virginia with his wife, Amina and six-month old son, Halil.
Edward P. Joseph is a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute and Adjunct Lecturer at SAIS, specializing in Conflict Management. During the wars in former Yugoslavia, Edward served on the ground in each conflict-afflicted country: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo and then-Macedonia.
During his war-time service in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in July 1995, Edward and one other UN Civil Affairs Officer were sent to Zepa to coordinate the evacuation of the women, children and wounded. This took place contemporaneous with the genocide in nearby Srebrenica. Edward testified as a fact witness in two Hague Tribunal cases.
Edward has authored dozens of articles and reports on the region, including in SAIS Review. His June, 2023 Foreign Policy article, ‘The United States is Creating a Kosovo Crisis’ described the overlooked obstacle to establishing autonomy for Kosovo Serbs. Edward was the lead author on the January, 2021 SAIS-Wilson Center report explaining how the European non-recognizers (of Kosovo) stymie the entire region, and setting out a corrective strategy.
Edward has led and currently serves on the Board of the National Council on US-Libya Relations. Edward earned his J.D. at the University of Virginia School of Law, and his B.A. and M.A. from Johns Hopkins University, and its School of Advanced International Studies.