Global Overview 2011: People internally displaced by conflict and violence - Bosnia and Herzegovina

The 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina led to the displacement of over a million people and the creation of ethnically homogeneous areas within the newly independent state.

By the end of 2011 an estimated 113,000 people remained internally displaced. The rate of return had continued to slow, and only about 260 displaced people returned during the year.

Many IDPs continued in 2011 to live in precarious situations, without support or economic opportunities. Many of those who faced the most hardship were older or more vulnerable people who still needed specific assistance to access adequate housing, income, psychiatric and social care and treatment for chronic diseases. Some 8,600 IDPs, including some of the most vulnerable, had lived in some form of collective centre or temporary accommodation for almost 20 years.

In the past few years the Bosnian government has increased financial support to returns and extended assistance to include income-generating activities and repair of infrastructure as well as housing.

Despite these steps, the government has more to do to create the conditions for sustainable voluntary returns, to facilitate local integration and to assist vulnerable IDPs and returned IDPs, of whom most have returned to areas in which they are members of a minority. In 2011 it had yet to implement its 2010 strategy to support IDPs' and returned IDPs' enjoyment of rights and access to durable solutions.

By 2011, only a few international organisations were still working to support IDPs as a group. UNHCR and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the CoE continued to monitor the situation of IDPs, while the EU continued to influence the government's policy development through the process of its candidacy to join the Union.