Further to a re-registration exercise completed by the authorities in 2005, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) dropped from 309,000 at the end of 2004 to 187,000 in Spring 2005. This decrease can be explained by the number of returns which had taken place since the previous registration in 2000 and by the fact that many displaced have decided to integrate locally.

Over one million internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees have returned to their homes since the end of the conflict in 1995, representing half of those displaced during the war. Return figures however have decreased by two thirds between 2004 and 2005, from 18,000 to 5,100. The 2006 figure is expected to be similar to the previous year. Several factors indicate that re-turn is now a residual process concerning the most vulnerable among the IDPs and areas with a sensitive political and economic environment. The political debate is still dominated by ethnic issues as illustrated by the 2006 general elections and failure of the constitutional reform. This perpetuates an environment of widespread discrimination in virtually all areas of public life, which in turn constitutes a serious obstacle to return. As a result, the access of IDPs to em-ployment, education, social and economic rights and justice in return areas remains affected by their ethnicity.

While the country has achieved most of its progress on return, property, and education thanks to the determination of the international community and the binding powers of the High Repre-sentative, this era is now ending. The current High Representative, Christian Schwartz-Schilling, who was appointed in December 2005, has announced the closure of his office for 2007 and explained that he will no longer use his binding powers to promote reform. It is hoped that this will result in a more responsible attitude from political parties to carry out the neces-sary reform of the institutions and go beyond the interests of the ethnically-based entities. The continued involvement of the international community is still required to ensure the sustainabil-ity of returns in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it is now up to the national authorities to fully as-sume their responsibility to govern the country in the interests of all its citizens.

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Contact:
Jens-Hagen Eschenbächer
Head of Monitoring and Advocacy Department
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
Norwegian Refugee Council
Chemin de Balexert 7-9
CH-1219 Châtelaine (Geneva)
Tel.: +41 (22) 799 07 03
Fax +41 (22) 799 07 01
www.internal-displacement.org

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre