Background Issues

Vietnam and HIV/AIDS
Mali, Migration and Child Labor
Ethnic conflict in Bosnia

Ethnic conflict in Bosnia (continued)
Since the end of the Cold War, the number of internal armed civil conflicts has increased dramatically, with more non-combatant deaths than combatants. As a result, neighbors have literally killed neighbors, breeding distrust and hatred, often between ethnicities. Such battles wreck economies.

Without some level of reconciliation, especially after war, markets do not open and sufficient trade comes to a halt. Today, nearly half of Bosnia-Herzegovina is unemployed, and the GDP of the country is still far below their 1990 level. Incomes of citizens have fallen dramatically and their infrastructure is still in shambles.

Many of the most effective post-war organizations are women's groups. Typically it is women within these divided societies who are the first to bridge the divide to solve problems. By finding solidarity as women - as seen in Bosnia-Herzegovina - they put ethnic allegiance aside, and strive toward what's most important to humanity as a whole: peace and progress.