Background
The Kosovo refugee crisis was one of the worst humanitarian disasters in Europe since World War II. Nearly 1 million ethnic Albanian refugees were displaced from their homes by fighting in Kosovo. The refugees began returning home after June 10, when a peace agreement was signed between the Yugoslav government and NATO.
The refugees, many of whom were forced from their homes at gunpoint, crossed over into neighboring Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Hundreds of thousands more were internally displaced within Kosovo's borders. The world's attention was drawn to this remote province in Eastern Europe, as the television cameras showed the plight of the refugees, prompting one of the largest relief operations in history.
