A/HRC/19/63 52. Children separated from their families often live for months or years in camps and other care arrangements such as institutions, or are made available for international adoption.35 This dramatically increases the child’s vulnerability to exploitation and abuse, abduction and trafficking. It is not uncommon for separated or unaccompanied children to barter with their bodies to obtain food or other forms of assistance from adults with power and access to resources, including peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel. 36 Separated children also have fewer resources to help them rebuild their lives after a disaster. 53. UNICEF works to promote the establishment of specific protocols to prevent separation during medical evacuation or admittance. Similarly, Save the Children establishes systems in the immediate aftermath of a disaster and informs people of how to avoid separation.37 3. Immediate post-emergency stage (a) Support and care for children and families 54. In addition to having their basic physical needs met, children in emergencies also require protection from physical harm, exploitation and gender-based violence, psychosocial distress, family separation, abuses related to forced displacement. They also need access to quality education.38 55. To coordinate care and support for children and their families, the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children and UNICEF have developed and promoted the use of a standard inter-agency child protection information management system (CPIMS). Although originally designed to facilitate family tracing and reunification, the system was re-designed in 2009 to support all thematic areas of child protection. To date, it has been used in 17 countries.39 56. Following the passage of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008, the United Nations initiated a Protection of Women and Children Cluster that was jointly chaired by UNICEF and Save the Children. The cluster served as a forum for coordination and planning between the United Nations and NGOs to respond to the needs of child survivors who had lost families and other basic necessities. The response from all agencies was informed and coordinated, resulting in more efficient and effective programmes. 40 (b) Short-term placement of children 57. Under circumstances of separation, there is heightened risk that children may be hastily fostered, adopted or placed in institutional care without adequate attempts to register them, undertake family tracing or reunification, or determine their best interests. 58. Interim care includes foster care (traditional, informal, spontaneous or arranged), guardianship or community-based care. While family-based care should be prioritized, interim care may be the only available possibility. However, many institutions are unregulated and unsafe, leaving children vulnerable to neglect and abuse. 41 As a preventive 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 12 According to the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), the average displaced child spends eight years in displacement. Save the Children, Protecting Children in Emergencies: Escalating threats to children must be addressed, Policy brief, vol.1, No. 1, Spring 2005, p. 9. Save the children, “Child Protection Fact Sheet” (see footnote 7), p. 3. Save the Children, Protecting Children in Emergencies (see footnote 37), p. 1. UNICEF’s response to the questionnaire. Save the Children, “Child Protection Fact Sheet” (see footnote 7), p. 4. Ibid., p. 5.