Global Youth Connect: Bosnia Country Background Information

More than ten years after the end of a bloody war that caused endless suffering and destruction, Bosnia and its people still struggle to find a path for reconstruction and reconciliation. While the guns and shells stopped seeding death in 1995, the country remains in a very fragile state. The root causes of the war have not been properly addressed and the international community seems unable to create conditions for sustainable peace. The Dayton Peace Accords, signed in November 1995, brought an end to violence, death, rape and concentration camps.

But this accords also created a political and constructional paralysis, which has prevented Bosnia from moving forward towards peace and prosperity. Some of the economic and social indicators show signs of improvement: for example, this year, the World Bank moved Bosnia from the list of "post-conflict" countries to the list of "countries in transition." Nevertheless, what remains a critical and most difficult task -- the one of rebuilding human relationships across ethnic and religious lines -- remains largely unattended and ignored.

A Brief History
For a country in the heart of Europe, it is interesting that Bosnia has only regained its full independence and statehood at the end of the last century. Originally, various tribes in the region were ruled by the Roman Empire. Eventually, in the 7th century, South Slavs (Juzni Slavenitoday's - which gave the name to the later country Yugoslavia) settled in today's Balkans and formed medieval kingdoms; the Bosnian Kingdom achieved its peak in the 1200s and crumbled under the onslaught of the Ottomans in 1463.

Ottomans ruled with an iron fist their most western outpost in Europe. But they also operated a fairly liberal system of inter-religious co-existence which enabled Christian (Catholic and Orthodox), Jewish and Muslim worshippers to live in the same towns and villages across the country. This gave the country's capital, Sarajevo, the nickname of "Jerusalem of Europe." And while there have been some sporadic outbursts of violence throughout the centuries, the country's main ethnic and religious groups: Bosniaks (Muslim), Bosnian Serbs (Christian Orthodox), Bosnian Croats (Roman Catholics), and Jews never directly engaged in inter-communal violence. Rather, they were used in the war games of the grand colonial powers of Europe.

This trend continued when another great power, the Austria-Hungarian Empire, took over the colonial rule of Bosnia in 1878. The rapid modernization and industrialization benefited only the colonial rules and the small local elite. Thus, the needs and interests of 95% of the local population were never in the mind of those controlling the country. And while Bosnia "fell with a whimper", there was a growing sense of emerging South Slavic nationalism (particularly among Serbs and Croats) which created a new generation of anti-colonial movements (mostly comprised of young people educated in the West). Among others, there emerged a specific movement of "Young Bosnia" which called for expulsion of the Austrian rulers and creation of a Couth Slav state, under the umbrella of Serbian leadership. Sarajevo first entered the world's history books in 1914 when a young Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, which was the trigger that unleashed World War I (or the Great War, as it is known in Europe).

Following the Great War, Bosnia became part of the South Slav state of Yugoslavia, only to be given to Nazi-puppet Croatia in World War II. During this period, many atrocities were committed against Jews, Serbs, and others who resisted the occupation. The Cold War saw the establishment of the Communist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito and the establishment of Bosnia as a republic with its medieval borders within the federation of Yugoslavia (which included Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, all of which are now independent states.

Conflict
Around 250,000 people died in the conflict between Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs -- part of the break-up of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia's unraveling was hastened by the rise of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to power in 1986. Milosevic's embrace of the Serb nationalism led to intrastate ethnic strife. Slovenia and Croatia both declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. In February 1992, the Bosnian government held a referendum on independence. Bosnia's parliament declared the republic's independence on April 5, 1992. However, this move was opposed by Serb representatives, who favored remaining in Yugoslavia. Bosnian Serbs, supported by neighboring Serbia, responded with armed force in an effort to partition the republic along ethnic lines to create a "Greater Serbia." Full recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina's independence by the United States and most European countries occurred on April 7 and the UN granted admittance on May 22, 1992.

From April 1992 to December 1995, brutal war ravaged the heart of Europe. Every second Bosnian (of any background) became either a refugee or an internally displaced person; every family was deeply affected by the atrocities and suffering that tore the multi-ethnic society apart. And while there are many gruesome numbers and statistics one can cite to illustrate the horrors, we should not forget that behind each number of a person killed by a sniper or a shell, or a child maimed by a bullet, or a grandmother raped, there lies a personal tragedy that can never be measured in numbers or statistics.

While the war was started as an act of Serbian aggression, it soon turned all the parties against each other in the most barbaric way. In March 1994, Muslims and Croats signed an agreement creating the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This narrowed the field of warring parties down to two. The conflict continued through most of 1995, ending with the Dayton Peace Agreement, signed on November 21, 1995 (the final version was signed December 14, 1995) in Paris.

The 1995 Dayton Peace Accord established the Office of the High Representative, a role fulfilled by British politician Paddy Ashdown since May 2002. The representative has wide-ranging powers to impose decisions in cases where the authorities are unable to agree, or where political and economic interests are considered to be at stake. A European Union-led peacekeeping force, EUFOR, is responsible for safeguarding peace and stability. The EU force took over from a NATO-led mission in December 2004. International administration has helped the country maintain a fragile peace and work to repair war damage.

Dayton set up two separate entities, a Muslim/Croat Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina, and the Bosnian Serb Republic, Republika Srpska, each with its own president, government, parliament, police and other bodies. Overarching these entities is a central Bosnia government and rotating presidency. Critics of Dayton voiced fears that the two entities came too close to being states in their own right and that the arrangement reinforced separatism and nationalism at the expense of integration.




	Bosnia Country Background Information More than ten years after the end of a bloody war that caused endless suffering and destruction, Bosnia and its people still struggle to find a path for reconstruction and reconciliation. While the guns and shells stopped seeding death in 1995, the country remains in a very fragile state. The root causes of the war have not been properly addressed and the international community seems unable to create conditions for sustainable peace. The Dayton Peace Accords, signed in November 1995, brought an end to violence, death, rape and concentration camps. But this accords also created a political and constructional paralysis, which has prevented Bosnia from moving forward towards peace and prosperity. Some of the economic and social indicators show signs of improvement: for example, this year, the World Bank moved Bosnia from the list of "post-conflict" countries to the list of "countries in transition." Nevertheless, what remains a critical and most difficult task -- the one of rebuilding human relationships across ethnic and religious lines -- remains largely unattended and ignored. A Brief History For a country in the heart of Europe, it is interesting that Bosnia has only regained its full independence and statehood at the end of the last century. Originally, various tribes in the region were ruled by the Roman Empire. Eventually, in the 7th century, South Slavs (Juzni Slavenitoday's - which gave the name to the later country Yugoslavia) settled in today's Balkans and formed medieval kingdoms; the Bosnian Kingdom achieved its peak in the 1200s and crumbled under the onslaught of the Ottomans in 1463. Ottomans ruled with an iron fist their most western outpost in Europe. But they also operated a fairly liberal system of inter-religious co-existence which enabled Christian (Catholic and Orthodox), Jewish and Muslim worshippers to live in the same towns and villages across the country. This gave the country's capital, Sarajevo, the nickname of "Jerusalem of Europe." And while there have been some sporadic outbursts of violence throughout the centuries, the country's main ethnic and religious groups: Bosniaks (Muslim), Bosnian Serbs (Christian Orthodox), Bosnian Croats (Roman Catholics), and Jews never directly engaged in inter-communal violence. Rather, they were used in the war games of the grand colonial powers of Europe. This trend continued when another great power, the Austria-Hungarian Empire, took over the colonial rule of Bosnia in 1878. The rapid modernization and industrialization benefited only the colonial rules and the small local elite. Thus, the needs and interests of 95% of the local population were never in the mind of those controlling the country. And while Bosnia "fell with a whimper", there was a growing sense of emerging South Slavic nationalism (particularly among Serbs and Croats) which created a new generation of anti-colonial movements (mostly comprised of young people educated in the West). Among others, there emerged a specific movement of "Young Bosnia" which called for expulsion of the Austrian rulers and creation of a Couth Slav state, under the umbrella of Serbian leadership. Sarajevo first entered the world's history books in 1914 when a young Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, which was the trigger that unleashed World War I (or the Great War, as it is known in Europe). Following the Great War, Bosnia became part of the South Slav state of Yugoslavia, only to be given to Nazi-puppet Croatia in World War II. During this period, many atrocities were committed against Jews, Serbs, and others who resisted the occupation. The Cold War saw the establishment of the Communist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito and the establishment of Bosnia as a republic with its medieval borders within the federation of Yugoslavia (which included Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, all of which are now independent states. Conflict Around 250,000 people died in the conflict between Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs -- part of the break-up of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia's unraveling was hastened by the rise of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to power in 1986. Milosevic's embrace of the Serb nationalism led to intrastate ethnic strife. Slovenia and Croatia both declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. In February 1992, the Bosnian government held a referendum on independence. Bosnia's parliament declared the republic's independence on April 5, 1992. However, this move was opposed by Serb representatives, who favored remaining in Yugoslavia. Bosnian Serbs, supported by neighboring Serbia, responded with armed force in an effort to partition the republic along ethnic lines to create a "Greater Serbia." Full recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina's independence by the United States and most European countries occurred on April 7 and the UN granted admittance on May 22, 1992. From April 1992 to December 1995, brutal war ravaged the heart of Europe. Every second Bosnian (of any background) became either a refugee or an internally displaced person; every family was deeply affected by the atrocities and suffering that tore the multi-ethnic society apart. And while there are many gruesome numbers and statistics one can cite to illustrate the horrors, we should not forget that behind each number of a person killed by a sniper or a shell, or a child maimed by a bullet, or a grandmother raped, there lies a personal tragedy that can never be measured in numbers or statistics. While the war was started as an act of Serbian aggression, it soon turned all the parties against each other in the most barbaric way. In March 1994, Muslims and Croats signed an agreement creating the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This narrowed the field of warring parties down to two. The conflict continued through most of 1995, ending with the Dayton Peace Agreement, signed on November 21, 1995 (the final version was signed December 14, 1995) in Paris. The 1995 Dayton Peace Accord established the Office of the High Representative, a role fulfilled by British politician Paddy Ashdown since May 2002. The representative has wide-ranging powers to impose decisions in cases where the authorities are unable to agree, or where political and economic interests are considered to be at stake. A European Union-led peacekeeping force, EUFOR, is responsible for safeguarding peace and stability. The EU force took over from a NATO-led mission in December 2004. International administration has helped the country maintain a fragile peace and work to repair war damage. Dayton set up two separate entities, a Muslim/Croat Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina, and the Bosnian Serb Republic, Republika Srpska, each with its own president, government, parliament, police and other bodies. Overarching these entities is a central Bosnia government and rotating presidency. Critics of Dayton voiced fears that the two entities came too close to being states in their own right and that the arrangement reinforced separatism and nationalism at the expense of integration.	PROGRAM INFO 2008 Bosnia Program Info Bosnia Program Reports 2007 2006 Bosnia Photo Gallery * * * * * * LINKS Center for Peacebuilding Human Rights Watch: Bosnia Amnesty International: Bosnia Dayton Peace Accords


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