The Dynamics of Bosnian Refugee Migrations in the 1990s, Current Migration Trends and Future Prospects

Abstract

More than two million people have had to leave their original homes, and more than one million people have left Bosnia-Herzegovina altogether, as a result of the war in that country. Although large groups of refugees returned to the country in the late 1990s, the majority of refugees have resettled permanently in the receiving countries. In addition, tens of thousands of Bosnians migrated after the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed. Yet refugee migrations do not dominate present migration flows from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Current migrations are diversified comprising transnational practices and various forms of economic migration. In this article, we analyse the dynamics of migration flows from Bosnia-Herzegovina and return migrations from the 1990s to the present day. In addition, we discuss prospects for future migrations and identify some emerging new categories of Bosnian migrants and transnationals that were not identified in the previous studies. A review of relevant public documents, research, and basic statistics is used in an attempt to illustrate how the dynamics of migrations interplay with the actions of migrants and with different aspects of refugee and migration policies within host countries.