In August 2008, hostilities resumed between the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and fighters of the National Congress for the Defence of the People. Over 250,000 civilians were forced to flee, sometimes repeatedly. In the chaos, families were separated, children were lost. The ICRC works with the Don Bosco centre, an orphanage in Goma, to reunite children with their families.

Shukuru is one of hundreds of children who lost touch with his family when fighting intensified in Eastern Congo last year. Like many others, he was feared to be dead. The joy of his relatives was endless when he finally returned home with the help of the ICRC.

On the 60th Anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, are civilians bearing the brunt of conflict?

Every day women are raped in Eastern Congo. Consequently, they not only suffer physical pain, but also emotional trauma and the fear of being rejected by their communities. The ICRC supports over 30 counselling centres in North and South Kivu, where victims of rape meet compassionate listeners and find support as they talk about their suffering.

Fighting between the military and the armed opposition displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Eastern Congo last year. The outbreak of hostilities made it impossible for farmers to plant their seeds and left the displaced dependent on maize flour, palm oil and beans distributed by humanitarian organizations.

Geneva (ICRC) – War and armed violence take an alarming toll on civilians in conflict-affected countries across the globe, according to new findings published by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday. The survey reveals that displacement, separation from family members and a lack of access to basic necessities are among people's most common experiences and biggest fears.

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.

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.

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.

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.