ABSTRACT
Notwithstanding the obvious horror of war and the preciousness of children, 'war affected' children has remained a curiously monolithic, and undisturbed 'issue area', except in it's spawning of the equally singular category of child soldier. A recent United Nations report by the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, acknowledges that despite 'clear and strong, children and armed conflict protection standards, and important concrete initiatives, particularly at the international level, atrocities against children and impunity for violators continue largely unabated on the ground'. This chapter considers if this new international policy area masks a diversity of conflicts and childhoods and if this creates further issues for all children, both at war and on other, closer, home fronts. Child soldiering has frequently been described as a recent phenomenon. Security and war have been at the heart of the study of international relations for the past 50 years.
