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The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

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Bosnia – War and Recovery

AP’s involvement in Bosnia began when staff member Peter Lippman, living in the country in 1999, profiled Bosnian refugees seeking to return to their homes after the war. Peter produced an extended series of reports that we have complied into the series titled On the Record – Postwar Refugee Return.  This series of twenty-six reports, compiled between early 1999 and mid 2000, provides a detailed report of the grassroots struggle of local organizations of displaced persons to return to their pre-war homes against fierce obstruction. The series describes the multi-directional return effort of activists in Kozarac, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Mostar, Brcko, Central Bosnia, Kozarac, and Srebrenica, among other places. 

In 2000, some of these refugees that Peter writes about set up tents in the hills above towns in eastern Bosnia to publicize their message. They included refugees from the town of Srebrenica, where the 1995 massacre took place. This led AP to work with the Bosnian Family, BOSFAM, which represents many of the Srebrenica survivors and offers them the chance to learn carpet-weaving.

The series of articles titled "Srebrenica – Background and the Beginning of Return," expands on the story of Srebrenica and brings it more up to date. It describes the quickening of the return process in Srebrenica municipality after 2000, the UNDP regional assistance project, and the work of some local grassroots organizations. Prominent among these are BOSFAM and the member groups of the Forum of Srebrenica NGOs.

In 2002 and 2003, Peter wrote additional reports focusing on the return to and reconstruction of Srebrenica in particular. These can be read in the Srebrenica Rebuilds – Letters 2002-2003 section.

In 2004, AP Director Iain Guest posted the diaries he wrote on a visit to Srebrenica. In 2005, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the massacre, AP promoted a petition calling for the arrest of Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić, the two Bosnian Serb leaders responsible for the massacre.

Use the menu on the right to view pages about this subject, beginning with the background pages about the 1995 massacre, written by Peter Lippman.

Related AP Partners BOSFAM Forum of Srebrenica NGOs

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