A/HRC/19/63 forms of exploitation, including by those who are known to them, such as persons from their community or family members. Rape, sexual abuse, trafficking and separation from family are common phenomena in crisis situations, and violence often takes place in a culture of acceptance and impunity.17 30. Again, the full extent of this issue remains largely unknown. While numerous country-level task forces on monitoring and reporting are in place to report on grave violations against children in armed conflicts, no similar mechanism exists in relation to violations against children in natural disasters. 31. The illegal and highly clandestine nature of the sale and exploitation of children further impedes detection and analysis. Children and their families are often reluctant to report cases of violence, exploitation and abuse. 18 The absence of quantitative, qualitative and empirical data severely limits the capacity to fully assess and address the extent of children’s vulnerability to sale, trafficking and all forms of exploitation. Humanitarian assistance and management of children’s vulnerability C. 32. The responses to the questionnaire indicate that numerous stakeholders, at all levels, have participated in initiatives to directly or indirectly prevent and combat the sale and exploitation of children during and after a natural disaster. 1. Primary intervening entities 33. Implementation of child protection can be promoted through various ways. The primary responsibility for disaster preparedness, response, recovery and reconstruction lies with States. However, the capacity of a State may be compromised by the consequences of a disaster or due to limited financial, human and technical resources and capacities or sometimes due to an absence of political will. 34. Consequently, international organizations and aid agencies often take up the slack and provide varied types and levels of child protection during and after a natural disaster. Several organizations and aid agencies are at the helm of emergency response efforts. These entities provide child protection services in accordance with sometimes distinctly diverse mandates and operational approaches. These services include the provision of rapid-response facilities to relieve the suffering of children and their caregivers; development-driven immediate and long-term relief and preparedness tools – such as family tracing kits – or services to prevent separation; humanitarian assistance, including restoring family links, reuniting families and searching for missing persons; protection and care for specific groups of children, such as refugees and those who are internally displaced; and emergency water and sanitation, shelter, health services, education, psychosocial care and protection for vulnerable children and youth. 35. Private sector actors participate in a wide range of activities during and after a natural disaster, however, the majority of these actions are reactive, ad hoc and unilateral, and limited to relief activities. They may also express reluctance to engage in collaborative project implementation, largely based on a desire to work independently, but thereby inhibiting effective coordination and operation.19 17 18 19 8 Save the Children, “Child Protection Fact Sheet” (see footnote 7), pp. 2 and 5. Ibid., p. 3; see also Report of the independent expert for the United Nations study on violence against children (A/61/299), 29 August 2006. See, for example, Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), Corporate Social Responsibility and Natural Disaster Reduction in Sri Lanka, Colombo, May 2002.