Editor's Note: IRC’S Program in Bosnia and Herzegovina Closes - April 28, 2006

Summary
The war in Bosnia, Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, led to some 200,000 civilians killed and the displacement of millions of Muslims, Croats and Serbs from their homes. The IRC began assisting victims of the Bosnia war in 1992 with emergency programs, and in 1995 with rehabilitation and reconstruction. With offices in Sarajevo, Gorazde, Mostar, Bihac and Tuzla, the IRC’s Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) program helps displaced people and refugees return and reintegrate into their societies, and assists in rebuilding and revitalizing destroyed communities. The IRC is helping returning refugees to rebuild their homes and infrastructure, as well as assisting in economic and agricultural development; health programs; and civil society development with special emphasis on developing the capacity of local non-governmental organizations.

Background
In March 1992, during a ceasefire between warring forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Croatia, B&H voted for independence in a referendum, which was boycotted by the Serb minority. A month later an independence rally in Sarajevo ended in violence, marking the beginning of a war that deliberately targeted civilians. Bosnian Serb forces, backed by the largely Serb Yugoslav Army, surrounded Sarajevo in a siege that lasted until September 1995. In January 1993, Croat and Muslim forces resisting Serb offensives split, and started a war within a war, further dividing and weakening the young state.

During the four-year war horrific atrocities took place, with starving prisoners in concentration camps, systematic rape and massacres of civilians. From village to village, systematic ethnic cleansing displaced over two million and killed 200,000. By 1993, Serb troops controlled 70 percent of B&H, with the rest contested between Croat and Muslim forces.

To protect refugees and the internally displaced, the UN declared three areas “safe havens.” However, Serb forces overran two of the three, Srebrenica and Zepa, in July 1995, with an estimated 7,000 Srebrenica men and boys massacred by Serb forces. The same year also saw significant territorial gains for the Croat and Muslim armies. A Croatian offensive overran the Krajina region, forcing hundreds of thousands of Bosnian and Croatian Serbs to flee to Serbia, where most remain. In August, NATO air strikes on Serb forces around Sarajevo led to the end of the siege. U.S.-sponsored talks in Dayton, Ohio, in October secured an agreement that ended the war and called for a Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb entity.

As massive international reconstruction got underway, refugee returns gradually increased and Bosnia’s battered economy began recovery. Reconstruction and reintegration remains the central mission of international aid agencies.

From 1992-1995, the IRC provided emergency shelter and infrastructure, agricultural seeds, clothing, fuel, as well as psychosocial support to vulnerable, war-affected populations. Following the 1995 Dayton Accord, the IRC shifted its focus to rehabilitating physical and social infrastructure, expanding programs to include repair of private residences, schools, factories, hospitals, clinics, roads, water, gas and electrical systems. The IRC also initiated a range of community-building, micro-enterprise and health projects, including a skills-training program for disabled people in Tuzla and Gorazde.

The IRC continues to provide refugees and internally displaced persons with support to return to their pre-war communities, and to rebuild their lives. The IRC approaches this goal by providing a range of rehabilitation and development projects that provide direct assistance to meet local needs.