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Responsibility for assisting and protecting internally displaced persons (IDPs) lies first and foremost with the national authorities. In situations of armed conflict, combatants (including non-state armed groups) and occupying powers also have legal responsibilities for IDPs under international humanitarian and human rights law.
In situations where the authorities are either unable or unwilling to meet their responsibility, international humanitarian and development organizations have the right to offer their services to alleviate suffering and support national efforts. …
Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in Central America, a consortium of NGOs issued a communiqué calling for all responses to ensure children were not separated from family or community and that unaccompanied children be reintegrated in their family, their community or substitute homes in their country. The signatories asserted temporary placement of children in families abroad as well as intercountry adoption were not adequate assistance measures for children in the event of a natural disaster. Evacuating children or placing them temporarily in families abroad is…