One of the greatest challenges facing a country after civil war is to find a way to peacefully coexist and rebuild with former enemies.

During the Guatemalan civil war, an estimated 150,000 people fled Guatemala to seek refuge in neighbouring countries (mainly Mexico) and one million became internally displaced.

Perpetué Kankindi longs for an end to the seven-year civil war that has devastated her native Burundi.

In 1994 genocide shattered the foundations of Rwanda, unleashing violence, hatred and the murder of more than half a million people.

Why have post-war reconstruction initiatives treated women as passive recipients of aid rather than as active partners?

The signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace for Bosnia and Herzegovina (GFAP) on 14 December 1995 marked the end of a three-and-a-half-year conflict which caused 1.2m refugees to flee abroad and displaced a further 1.1m within Bosnia and Herzegovina.

How sustainable are minority returns? What do the displaced themselves think of the return process and the programmes designed to facilitate return?

Following 30 years of war and mass displacement, Cambodia is entering an era of relative stability. Political tensions have eased, refugees and internally displaced people have resettled and steady economic growth is forecast.

This year, Bangladesh celebrates its 30^th birthday as an independent nation state. Compared to other countries in South Asia it is still a relative newcomer, and yet the journey so far has been difficult.

Although refugees are often the victims of ethnic, religious or political intolerance, they carry their own prejudices with them into exile.