Meet your Director, John Haslun!
John Haslun is a sophomore in UConn's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He is majoring in political science with an aim to begin a pre-law pathway with hopes of attending law school in the future. This is his fourth year attending UCMUN, after two years as a high school delegate and one as an Assistant Director for a US House of Representatives committee. At UConn, he participates in the Daily Campus, the Film Appreciation Club, and in the campus' tabletop gaming community. As such, you can normally find him on campus watching something in a lecture hall, preparing D&D campaigns, or reading and writing about any topic that crosses his mind. He is extremely excited to present this year's Historical Security Council on the Yugoslav Wars! Email him at John.haslun@uconn.edu
Meet your Topic Specialist, Anna Johnson!
Hi, my Name is Anna Johnson. I am the topic specialist for UCMUN’s Historical Committee. I’m a freshman here at UConn majoring in molecular and cell biology. In my free time I enjoy reading, swimming, and hanging out with friends. Please reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns at Anna.e.johnson@uconn.edu
Topic: Yugoslav Wars
The fall of communism worldwide, the death of long-time ruler and socialist strongman Josip Broz Tito, and unresolved ethnic tensions saw the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia evolve from a stable beacon of neutrality to a hotbed of ethnic tensions and radicalism. The constituent republics of Yugoslavia, as such, became disillusioned with the concept of “brotherhood and unity,” and many sought independence from an increasingly ethnically Serbian dominated central government. As war broke out within the borders of newly independent states such as Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Nations Security Council took measures to both recognize their independence, encourage Europe to do the same, and protect the territorial integrity of these nascent republics. Peacekeepers were deployed in 1992, and by 1993, the UNSC had established the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Throughout the Yugoslav Wars, the UNSC had to grapple with controversial and multi-faceted topics. How best to protect territorial integrity? How to support and protect multi-ethnic states such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were subject to genocide and violence on multiple fronts? How best to deal with (militarily and diplomatically) socialist Yugoslavia’s Serb-dominanted successor state, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia? As a committee, the United Nations Security Council’s mission will be to put aside their differences of ideology and foreign policy goals in order to bring a speedy, effective, and lasting peace to the conflict through both military and diplomatic means - that is, through peacekeepers and peace treaties.