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operation in management and the implementation of joint projects in publishing,
information dissemination and advocacy.” 201
For this end the “main priority of the Network in 2003 was the creation
of a local, independent, and sustainable non-governmental organization, which
would operate throughout BiH and incorporate the goals, mandate and the work
of the Network.” 202 Besides, proposed projects of the LAICs in 2004 involved
continuation of provision of free legal aid in BiH, raising public awareness such
as radio and TV programs in regard to the legal issues, capacity building
including seminars and trainings on local and international instruments and
protection of human rights. 203
All those cover the post-Dayton activities of the UNHCR in BiH. However, it
also had some separate reconstruction projects called durable solution for private
centre residence implemented by Swiss Humanitarian Agency (SHA). The Agency
mostly involved in reconstruction for most vulnerable people in collective centers.
Bakir Jelavcic described that “the category of most vulnerable people derive from the
reason that all those years after the war they are still in collective centers. They were
cross border refuges or in general refugees form the region mostly from Serbia and
Montenegro.” 204
6.2.2 Assessment of the Refugee Repatriation and Return of Internally
Displaced Persons
The presumption at Dayton that most of the displaced persons and refugees would
return home was challenged by the fairly small amount of returns in the first postwar
years. Franjo Tudjman and Slobodan Milosevic, two participants of Dayton
negotiations vigorously resisted refugee returns, intending to consolidate power over
201 ‘Legal Aid and Information Centers Network in Bosnia and Herzegovina’, p. 9.
202 Ibid., p. 9. (Since 2000, the UNHCR has been working for the creation of a country-wide LAICs
Network with the goal of creating a single national NGO. Creation of a national NGO regarded to as
an important contribution to the development of civil society in BiH.)
203 ‘Legal Aid Network in 2004’, March 2004, Public Awareness, pp. 11-12.
204 Interview with Bakir Jalovcic, Senior Public Information Assistant, UNHCR, Representation in
BiH, 16 July 2003.
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