ABSTRACT
Once referred to as the most heterogeneous republic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) collapsed into conflict shortly after electing to declare independence in March 1992. By the end of the conflict in 1995, over half of BiH’s population of 4.3 million had been forcibly displaced. It was an irredentist war, one in which warring factions “ethnically cleansed” villages and urban centres. Belligerent tactics involved systematic terrorism, torture, mass rape, starvation, executions, detention and the deprivation of basic needs. Repeatedly, the international community was appealed to and manipulated by all sides of the conflict. The UN Security Council passed resolution after resolution, but lacked the will to take action. The price of all of this was the lives and livelihoods of millions of Bosnians.
