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The civil war in Bosnia resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilians becoming refugees. A small number, around 2,000, were given temporary protection in the UK. The majority were Bosnian Muslims who had been forced from their homes during ‘ethnic cleansing’ by Bosnian Serb forces in 1992. Many of the men who came to the UK had first been detained in Serb concentration camps, where they were forced into hard labour. Some were tortured, and many killed. Those who survived were reunited with their families after the intervention of the Red Cross and condemnation by the international community. The refugees were resettled throughout the UK.
In 1996, following the Dayton Peace Agreement, many refugees indicated they would like to return to their villages, which had been retaken by the Bosnian army just before Dayton. The Scottish humanitarian organisation Edinburgh, Direct Aid, offered refugees the chance to return home.
Recently arrived Bosnian Muslim refugees having arrived in the war town of Karlovac, to find they must sleep in the open. Karlovac, Croatia. 1992
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