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Internally Displaced Persons – 1995

In his 13 December 1995 report to the Security Council, the U.N. Secretary General stated that there were 1.2 million displaced persons inside Bosnia and Herzegovina and 900,000 refugees outside the country. He acknowledged that the accurate planning of the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees was difficult because of the future security situation as well as uncertainties related to their wishes. IDPs and refugees had the option to return to their homes or settle elsewhere.¹ The institutional mechanisms to implement the provisions of the accord were not in place. International organizations like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other agencies were working on the issue.

Refugees started to return voluntarily. According to a UNHCR report, 815 refugees had returned.² It was not clear whether the peace accord mandated that the Commission for Displaced Persons and Refugees be set up in 1995.

1. “Report of the Secretary-General Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1026 (1995),” U.N. Security Council (S/1995/1031), December 13, 1995.
2. “2002 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook – Bosnia and Herzegovina,” UNHCR, 2002, accessed May 2, 2011, http://www.unhcr.org/414ad5707.html.