Birnback is Director of Public Affairs with the UN Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support, where he is working primarily on UN-EU relations, and on the Kosovo Desk. Prior to that he held several position with the United Nations, most recently as a Special Assistant with the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. He previously served as Acting Spokesman and Officer-in-Charge with the U.N. Mission in East Timor, Political Officer/Special Assistant to the International Police Task Force at the U.N. in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Press Officer with the U.N. in Liberia. Along with several colleagues he received the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity 2000 Humanitarian Award for their refusal to abandon the people that the UN Mission in East Timor was protecting from the local militias.
…I think what makes the Scoville Program different from other fellowships is the sense of being embraced by an already existing community. As a new Scoville Fellow, I found many of my predecessors still working in Washington and eager to provide me with all kinds of guidance…