Millions of people have been displaced over decades of armed conflict in Colombia, and tens of thousands are missing. Cruz del Carmen faces a triple tragedy: her husband was killed, two of her children are missing, and she was displaced from her farm twelve years ago.

The testimony below is that of a 17-year-old former child soldier and current student of the Child Advocacy and Rehabilitation Centre (CAR) run by the Liberian Red Cross, which supports children who were affected by Liberia’s 14-year civil war. Students between the ages of 10 and 18 are provided with psychosocial counselling, skills training such as tailoring and masonry, recreational activities and accelerated learning programmes.

In Bogotá's Good Shepherd prison, dozens of women who had fought for one of Colombia's many armed groups struggle to maintain ties with their children. Sandra is one of them, and she is clinging to hope for her future, despite a long prison sentence.

Avraham is an ambulanceman with the Magen David Adom in Sderot, an Israeli town near the Gaza Strip. He sometimes transports seriously ill Palestinians to hospital who cannot obtain the necessary treatment in Gaza. He believes that hoping is not enough; he says you have to act, because that is what gives life meaning.

Ashraf is an ambulanceman with the Palestine Red Crescent in Rafah, Gaza. He counts himself lucky to be able to help people and save lives, and is proud of what he does. But being an ambulanceman in Gaza is a risky job.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC conducted an opinion survey in eight countries affected by armed conflict. The newest findings indicate that an overwhelming majority of people agree that even wars should have limits, but far fewer are aware that rules on warfare already exist. The research results are illustrated here by award-winning photographers from the VII photo agency.

Nearly a year after the hostilities broke out, most internally displaced people have returned home. However, they remain vulnerable, in need of food and other essentials. A selection of photos taken as part of the Our world. Your move campaign by well-known VII photographer Antonin Kratochvil.

As part of the Our world. Your move. campaign marking the 150th anniversary of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, the ICRC has commissioned research into the experiences and opinions of civilians coping with armed conflict and violence in eight countries. Eros Bosisio, who coordinated the research, describes his experiences in Colombia.

With most gang leaders in jail, the violence that ravaged Cité Soleil between 2003 and 2007 has abated. But poverty fuels discontent, and the victims of violence remain one of the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

For 15 years, Mama Bona has taken care of children separated from their families as a result of conflicts the country has gone through. When she cannot find a family to host unaccompanied children and orphans, they are welcome to stay at her house.

In Southern Lebanon, an orthopaedic technician is helping victims of cluster bombs recover a semblance of normalcy. One of his most successful patients was only 11 when he lost both legs.

When the sadness of life that is so often manifest on Kabul’s dusty streets becomes overwhelming, there is no better place to go than the ICRC Orthopaedic Centre in Ali Abad on the city's outskirts, as ICRC communication coordinator Jessica Barry found out.

Amputee football has brought hope and healing to one of Liberia’s most marginalized groups, and to the country itself. These young men are for the most part victims of the war, some of which participated in the fighting, which only adds to the stigma they endure. The ICRC's Mark Wagner reports.

Mama Louise* was raped, together with her elderly mother and her three daughters. Ever since, she has devoted her time and energy to helping some of the countless Congolese women who have gone through the same ordeal.

Dad-e-Khuda, Zalmai and Jamaluddin are all blind and live in the Afghan Red Crescent Society’s Marastoon in Kabul. Here they find the support they need to cope with life, and have the opportunity to learn new skills that give hope for a better future.

Building back better after the four consecutive killer storms that ravaged Haiti in 2008 is a challenge for a country suffering poverty, environmental degradation and donor fatigue.

Between 2006 and 2008, three conflicts devastated parts of Lebanon. As happens everywhere, women suffered most, but they also showed striking resilience in the face of hardship and grief. Four of them speak of how they survived.

There are very few places in Afghanistan where the mentally sick can find care. ICRC communication coordinator, Jessica Barry, together with a colleague, visited one of them.

Tharcysse Synga is the only doctor in the Minova hospital in South Kivu. He remembers those days in late 2008 when the place was hosting scores of war wounded and displaced persons. He had to perform up to 16 surgical operations a day.

Since the conflict of August 2008, the ICRC has built up its presence in Georgia and South Ossetia in order to help people still suffering the consequences of the conflict. Sometimes, it’s as simple as delivering warm clothes to a school.

The work of Haitian Red Cross volunteers is dangerous and stressful as they evacuate the sick and wounded from the slums of Port-au-Prince and discuss life and death decisions with gang leaders.

After 15 years in an Indian prison, Mahmoud is back with his Palestinian family in Lebanon. He has been able to start a new life, and remembers fondly the ICRC delegates who gave him "a window of hope".

At 10.30 pm on 16 October 2008 a stray bullet passed through the wooden walls of María Elena’s bedroom, smashing into her left arm. Miraculously it missed her 16-month-old baby who was being breastfed at the time. It is a moment she will never forget.

Midwives Marie Joseph and Françoise understand the suffering of women in Cité Soleil. Marie Joseph’s daughter and Françoise’s niece have been victims of the rampant sexual violence in Haiti’s sprawling waterside slum. Trained by the Red Cross, the two midwives help evacuate pregnant and sexually abused women to hospital.

Charlotte Tabaro is a psycho-social worker in one of the two centres that the Red Cross Society of the DRC has set up in the displaced persons’ camps at Kibati, near Goma. Charlotte has been trained by the ICRC to care for victims of the conflict, to listen as they tell of their suffering and to provide counselling. The counselling centres are known in French as “maisons d’écoute” – literally, “listening houses”. Here, suffering meets compassion and hope.