 In 1992, shortly after the spread of war to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) was established and sent to the region to, amongst other tasks, forward humanitarian efforts throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, eventually growing into a force of nearly 38.599 military personnel as of March 1995.Six UN Safe Areas were established by the Security Council throughout the country in Sarajevo, Tuzla, Srebrenica, Bihać, Goražde and Žepa  in 1993 to protect civilians from the advancing Bosnian-Serb army and the violence against civilian populations during the advance.The creation of the UN Safe Areas did, however, contribute to mounting criticism of UN Peacekeeping due to engrained conceptual contradictions in their establishment.