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.

Nahr el Bared is a Palestinian camp in Northern Lebanon, where the Lebanese Army battled an armed group called Fatah al Islam for almost four months in 2007. Said Tawiyyeh, 59, is a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon and has been a Palestine Red Crescent Society medical volunteer for 27 years.

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.

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.

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".

Hasniyye Yehia Tawiyyeh, 60, is living the nightmare of displacement. "It is hard to describe how much one suffers when one has to leave his house and belongings and just get out with barely the clothes on his back and nothing else. No money, no food, nothing of any kind."

During the five week conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, up to 4 million cluster munitions fell on Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands of them failed to explode on impact, contaminating huge swathes of the country and killing hundreds of civilians long after the fighting had stopped. Over several decades, cluster munitions have killed and maimed tens of thousands of people in war-torn countries around the world.