Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina, at times, referred to as Bosnia Herzegovina and commonly referred to as Bosnia, is a country in Southeastern Europe which is located within the Balkan Peninsula. The capital and largest city in Bosnia is Sarajevo.

Geography of Bosnia

• Bosnia and Herzegovina is an “almost landlocked” country.
• It only has a narrow coast at the Adriatic Sea.
• It is surrounded by Croatia to the north, west and south; Serbia to the east; and Montenegro to the southeast.
• The inner part of the country, Bosnia, is a geographically larger region which has a moderate continental climate, with hot summers and cold and snowy winters.
• The smaller southern tip, Herzegovina, has a Mediterranean climate, plain topography and a very narrow outlet to the Adriatic Ocean.

International Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Bosnia and Herzegovina is a member of the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, Partnership for Peace and CEFTA.
• It is also a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean since its establishment in July 2008.
• It has applied to be a member of the European Union and has been a candidate for NATO membership since April 2010.

Why is it in the news?

Authorities of Bosnia has reburied 86 bodies recovered from a ravine. These people were murdered in the 1992-1995 War and their bodies disposed of in the ravine by the Serbians. These victims who were mainly prisoners for people not of Serb ethnicity near the town of Prijedor. They were initially told that they would be released in a prisoner exchange but were then driven to the Koricani Cliffs in central Bosnia where they were all made to stand near the ravine and shot dead by Bosnian Serb forces in August 1992.