Whether born before or during war, children are affected by war in various ways, similar to, and also different from, adults. Given the changes that have happened in recent history in the nature of wars, from the battlefield-based conventional to the full-scale technological, and from interstate to civil, civilians are more directly and less accidentally affected by war than they would have been a century ago. In previous centuries, it was more likely for children to experience war secondhand through displacement, temporary or permanent separation from their families, or bereavement. Since the official end of the age of colonialism, however, more and more civilians, including children, have become victims of war firsthand. Airborne strikes kill more people inadvertently than do skirmishes on a mappable battlefield.

Furthermore, ...