Twenty years on from the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in November 1995, the consequences of conflict – including the long-term effects of displacement – are still being felt in the Western Balkans.
This issue of FMR focuses largely on the question of return. Some of those who were driven from their homes have been unable to return; others have returned but have struggled to rebuild their lives. The Agreement may have brought an end to war but its implementation has not yet put an end to human suffering and social crisis.
As one of our authors says, “Twenty years on, the return project is ready for review.” This is an appropriate moment to examine the particular case of people who were displaced from and within Bosnia and Herzegovina as a result of the 1992-95 war, and to reflect on the ‘lessons’ that may be drawn from the successes and failures of the Dayton Peace Agreement. These lessons have resonance for current crises – such as in Syria or Ukraine – and merit attention.
We would like to thank Selma Porobic (Centre for Refugee and IDP Studies, University of Sarajevo) and Erin Mooney (United Nations Protection Capacity/ProCap) for their assistance as advisors on the feature theme of this issue. We are also grateful to Catholic Relief Services-USCCB, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for Europe for their financial support.
FMR 50 also includes a number of ‘general’ articles on: safe shelters for survivors of SGBV, inconsistencies in asylum appeal adjudication in the UK, assisted voluntary return of young Afghans, refugees’ perspectives on successful resettlement in the US, and the fragmentation of the protection landscape. (Please note that all our ‘general’ articles are also now gathered together online, at www.fmreview.org/general-articles.)
The full issue and all the individual articles in this issue are online in html, pdf and audio formats at www.fmreview.org/dayton+20. Please help disseminate this issue by circulating to networks, mentioning it on Twitter and Facebook and adding it to resources lists.
This issue (and its accompanying expanded contents summary) will be available online in English, Arabic, French, Spanish and Bosnian (both Latin and Cyrillic alphabets). However, due to shortage of funds, FMR 50 will be available in print in English, Arabic and Bosnian only.
Please email us at fmr@qeh.ox.ac.uk if you would like printed copies.
Forthcoming issues:
- ‘Destination: Europe’ – Due out December 2015. This issue will discuss the complexities of the European asylum debate, placing it in its broader context.
- ‘Thinking ahead: displacement, transition and solutions’ – Due out May 2016.
For more details, see www.fmreview.org/forthcoming.
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Marion Couldrey and Maurice Herson
Editors, Forced Migration Review