
Bosnia & Herzegovina
The US Government asked UNHCR to manage a $5 million fund intended to help Bosnian women worst affected by the years of severe interethnic conflict from 1992 to 1996. Those terrible years had included a four-year siege of the capital, Sarajevo, along with the mass murder of eight thousand men who had sought safety in Srebrenica , one of the United Nations' designated "safe havens". Widespread rape of women and girls and "ethnic cleansing" were the principal features of the Serb attacks on Bosnian populations.
​
UNHCR Geneva invited me to go to Bosnia & Herzegovina for two months in 1996 to set up "The Bosnian Women's Initiative". This of course involved close cooperation with as many of the traumatised women as possible, so there was a lot of travel to undertake through that badly damaged country.

Mostar, a famous ancient city tragically disfigured by conflict

Beautiful sacred buildings could often be found side by side with desolation

Long-distance travel within Bosnia & Herzegovina