{
  "id": "RL32392",
  "type": "CRS Report",
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  "number": "RL32392",
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  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
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      "id": 305945,
      "date": "2005-02-10",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:53:35.599029",
      "title": "Bosnia and Herzegovina: Issues for U.S. Policy",
      "summary": "The 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, brokered primarily by the United States, ended the war in\nBosnia,\nwhich had cost hundreds of thousands of lives and created over 2 million refugees and displaced\npersons. The Dayton Peace Accords also set up Bosnia's current political structure of two\nsemi-autonomous, ethnically-based \"entities\" and a relatively weak central government. It resulted\nin the deployment of a NATO-led peacekeeping force, which was charged with providing a secure\nenvironment for the implementation of the peace agreement. In December 2004, a European Union\nforce took over peacekeeping duties from NATO. A U.N.-appointed High Representative, created\nby the Dayton Accords, oversees the civilian implementation efforts.\n  In the more than nine years since the accords, the United States and other countries have scored\nsignificant achievements in Bosnia, including sharply reduced inter-ethnic violence, restored\nfreedom of movement, and the return of many refugees and displaced persons to their homes. The\ninternational community has also helped Bosnia hold largely free and fair elections and set up many\nof the institutions of a modern democratic state. However, these individual successes have not\nadded up to the accomplishment of the overall goal of international efforts in Bosnia: the creation\nof a stable, united Bosnia, able to continue reforms on its own and integrate into Euro-Atlantic\ninstitutions. Almost all progress on reforms and on promoting greater unity in Bosnia continues to\nrequire direct or indirect intervention by representatives of the international community. Reform\nefforts continue to be met by obstructionism or passivity by the nationalist parties that control\nBosnian governments at all levels. Some observers also assert that the cumbersome governing\ninstitutions set up by the Dayton Peace Accords are unworkable.\n  Supporters of international activism in Bosnia say that the only way to move forward is to\ncontinue to impose reforms when necessary, and that when these reforms reach a critical mass, they\nwill become self-sustaining. According to critics of current international policy on Bosnia,\ninternational interventionism has led to dependency and irresponsibility among local elites. This\nproblem is all the more serious as the international commitment to Bosnia in troops and funding has\ndecreased in recent years.\n  Another important issue is whether Bosnia is still important to U.S. interests. Some say that\npressing U.S. commitments in other countries and regions argue for transferring full responsibility\nfor Bosnia to European countries. Others believe that the United States still has a stake in Bosnia's\nstability, as part of building a Europe \"whole and free,\" the overarching U.S. objective in the region. \nThey say continued U.S. involvement in Bosnia may be needed to arrest indicted war criminals, as\nwell as to make sure that Bosnia is not used as a haven for organized crime or terrorists. The 109th\nCongress will likely be involved in such issues as appropriating foreign aid for Bosnia and\nexamining Bosnia's compliance with its obligations to the International Criminal Tribunal for the\nformer Yugoslavia. This report will be updated as events warrant.",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc819215/",
      "id": "RL32392_2004May20",
      "date": "2004-05-20",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Bosnia and Herzegovina: Issues for U.S. Policy",
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      "type": "CRS Report",
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  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Intelligence and National Security"
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}