List of tables and figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction: 'turtles can fly': vicarious terror and the child in South Asia Bina D'Costa; Part I. Shaping Childhood in South Asia: 1. Children and civil society in South Asia: subjects, participants, and political agents Duncan McDuie-Ra; 2. 'We will work harder to be our own boss': children, vulnerability and structural violence Elora Halim Chowdhury; 3. The kite runner: children, violence and the ethnic imaginary in Afghanistan Syed Sami Raza; Part II. Conflict and Violent Peace: 4. Migration, mobilisation and memory: the Sri Lankan Civil War in the lives of Tamil youth Amarnath Amarasingam and Tanuja Thurairajah; 5. 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; 6. Besieged childhood and broken dreams: failed promises of the State and Maoist movement in India Swati Parashar; 7. Impacts of terrorism on children in Pakistan: a case study of displaced children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Zahid Shahab Ahmed; Part III. Rights, Needs and Protection: 8. Children affected by political violence in India: human rights, politics and protection Cecilia Jacob; 9. Rethinking rights and needs: the everyday life of refugee children in the Borderland Kazi Fahmida Farzana; 10. Pinning down a paper tiger: some practice observations on the monitoring and reporting mechanism in Nepal and Asian contexts Anita Knudsen and Michelle Godwin; Part IV. Reflections from Human Rights Advocates in the Region: 11. Being young in a time of conflict: Kashmiri youth and children – a reflection Parvez Imroz; 12. The killing of youths in Sri Lanka: historical wrongs and the failure of the State Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena; 13. The impact of war and violence on young minds Azra Nafees Yousafzai; Bibliography; Notes on contributors.