ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the significance of the safe-areas regime to the several parties and endeavours to identify failures in the construction and implementation of the regime. The collapse of the safe area of Srebrenica in 1995 represented far more than a brutal humanitarian catastrophe. It brought the credibility of both the United Nations (UN) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) into question and precipitated the collapse of the already failing consent-based mandate of the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR). However, ultimately it began a process which led to a peace agreement, initialed at Dayton, Ohio, which brought the Bosnian war to an end. The use of air-power in defence of UNPROFOR ground troops unable to withdraw or defend themselves through their own means entailed additional problems for the regime. As a concrete expression of efforts to combine the UN's humanitarian, political and military activities the safe-areas regime at the very least was ultimately a failure.
