ABSTRACT
The concept of “return” has been a key notion in post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) since day one. In addition to a set of more general guarantees, Annex 7 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace (Framework) stipulates the right of refugees and displaced persons (DPs)1 to “freely return to their homes of origin.” This articulation of the right of return is broader than the right typically employed by the United Nations of “return to country of origin.” In this chapter, based on ethnographic research conducted from 2000 to 2001,2 I critically assess the return policies of the foreign intervention agencies (FIAs)3 in the light
of yearnings for “home” among displaced Bosnians. I shall argue that returnhowever important it may have been to many Bosnians-ultimately functioned as the self-perpetuating lynchpin of an externally generated framework for post-war reconstruction, often out of tune with actual experiences and life trajectories of its intended beneficiaries.
