Red Hand Day

On Red Hand Day or the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, February 12 each year since 2002, pleas are made to political leaders and events are staged around the world to draw attention to child soldiers: children under the age of 18 who participate in military organizations of all kinds. The aim of Red Hand Day is to call for action to stop this practice, and a support for children affected by it.

On 12 February 2002 the Optional Protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child for the protection of children in armed conflict came into force. It outlaws the recruitment and use of children and adolescents under 18 in armed conflicts. This Optional Protocol has been accepted by more than 170 governments. Armed groups and regular government forces, however, continue to recruit and use child soldiers. Most of them have been recruited by force and cannot leave the armed unit anymore. Other children who grow up in war zones see no other chance of survival than joining one of the armed groups "voluntarily". While many child soldiers are between 10 and 18 years old, sometimes they are even younger.