Includes bibliographical references and index.

Acknowledgements -- Introduction: "turtles can fly" : vicarious terror and the child in South Asia / Bina D'Costa -- Shaping childhood in South Asia -- Children and civil society in south asia : subjects, participants, and political agents / Duncan McDuie-Ra -- "We will work harder to be our own boss" : children, vulnerability and structural violence / Elora Halim Chowdhury -- The kite runner : children, violence, and the ethnic imaginary in Afghanistan / Syed Sami Raza -- Conflict and violent peace -- Migration, mobilisation and memory : the Sri Lankan civil war in the lives of Tamil youth / Amarnath Amarasingam and Tanuja Thurairajah -- Politics of the orphans of war : 72 children's journey from the Chittagong hill tracts of Bangladesh to the suburbs of France / Kabita Chakma and Glen Hill -- Besieged childhood and broken dreams : failed promises of the state and Maoist movement in India / Swati Parashar -- Impacts of terrorism on children in Pakistan : a case study of displaced children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa / Zahid Shahab Ahmed -- Rights, needs and protections -- Children affected by political violence in India : human rights, politics and protection / Cecilia Jacobs -- Rethinking rights and needs : the everyday life of refugee children in the borderland / Kazi Fahmida Farzana -- Pinning down a paper tiger : some practice observations on the monitoring and reporting mechanism in Nepal and Asian contexts / Anita Knudsen and Michelle Godwin -- Reflections from human rights advocates in the region -- Being young in a time of conflict : Kashmiri youth and children : a reflection / Parvez Imroz -- The killing of youths in Sri Lanka : historical wrongs and the failure of the state / Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena -- The impact of war and violence on young minds / Azra Nafees Yousafzai -- Bibliography -- Index.

"Explores the conceptualization of childhood in South Asia and comments on how discussions and debates have only recently shifted from a language of welfare to substantive protection of children's rights in the region"-- Provided by publisher.