Name: 30 years on: The Dayton Peace Agreement explained
Uploaded: 2025-12-08T08:42:35.232Z
Duration: 5 min
Description: The Dayton Accords, which were signed on December 14, 1995, ended the Bosnian War. Thirty years on, Bosnia-Herzegovina still struggles with deep ethnic divisions. DW takes a look at the road to Dayton and the aftermath.

The Dayton Accords, which were signed on December 14, 1995, ended the Bosnian War. Thirty years on, Bosnia-Herzegovina still struggles with deep ethnic divisions. DW takes a look at the road to Dayton and the aftermath.

Paris

The Dayton Peace Agreement was signed on December 14, 1995, in Paris, formally ending the Bosnian War, which had resulted in over 100,000 deaths and the displacement of nearly half the population. The agreement created two entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, aiming to balance the interests of the main ethnic groups.

While the accord brought lasting peace, it did not resolve deep ethnic divisions or lead to significant economic improvement. Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to experience high unemployment and youth emigration, and its aspirations to join the European Union hinge on substantial reforms. The country remains stable but is still searching for a path to prosperity and unity.

30 years on: The Dayton Peace Agreement explained

30 years ago, on December 14, 1995, a date and peace agreement, also known as the Dayton Accords, was signed at a ceremony in Paris. It brought an end to the Bosnian War, one of the bloodiest conflicts in Europe since World War II. When we see what is happening in Ukraine, when we see what was happening in Gaza, peace is really the first and basic condition for us to be able to achieve anything in life. So, really, on that side, I have to give recognition to the authors of the Dayton Accords, because they brought a lot of peace. But what is the Dayton Peace Agreement and how was it reached? In the midst of the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Bosnian Herzegovina, a republic made up of ethnic Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, declared independence on March 3, 1992. War broke out almost immediately. The ensuing conflict was brutal and complex. Bosnian Serb forces, which were backed by neighbouring Serbia, sought to create ethnically homogenous territories, while the Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats fought to defend their own areas. In the three years that followed, over 100,000 people were killed and around 2 million displaced, nearly half of the country's population. The turning point of the war came in early July 1995 in the small eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica. The UN had declared the town a safe area, which meant that thousands of Bosniaks flocked there in search of refuge. Over the course of just a few days, Bosnian Serb troops killed more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in what international courts later ruled was a genocide. The massacre shocked the world. It also exposed the shortcomings of the international peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and pushed Western government to take action. Soon after Srebrenica, NATO, supported by the ground operations of the United Nations Protection Force, launched airstrikes against the Bosnian Serb positions. The offensive led to the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia agreeing to meet for peace negotiations at a US military base in Dayton, Ohio. The parties have pledged to cooperate fully with a NATO-led peace implementation force and to ensure the safety of its personnel. An agreement that ended the Bosnian war was reached in Dayton on November 21 and formally signed in Paris on December 14, 1995. The agreement, accepted by all parties, stipulated that Bosnia and Herzegovina would be made up of two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is mostly inhabited by Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, and Republika Srpska, which is predominantly populated by Bosnian Serbs. Unfortunately, in these areas, for 30 years, the situation in Dayton has not improved, but on the contrary, it has become even worse than it was. Many young people have moved out, complete families have left this area because there is no economic situation. We got peace, but in terms of economy, we did not improve at all. I am afraid that for this reason, a large number of young people simply leave our city and look for happiness in a third country. 30 years after Dayton, there is still peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But while the highly complex political system created by the agreement stopped hostilities, it did not put an end to ethnic divisions and separatist tendencies or allow the country to truly prosper. The country's economy is currently one of the weakest in Europe, and its high rate of unemployment is a major problem. Bosnia and Herzegovina is keen to join the European Union, but significant reforms will have to be introduced before accession becomes a reality. In short, while peace prevails, Bosnia and Herzegovina is still searching for a way to overcome the bitter divisions created by the war and move forward in prosperity.

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