Red Hand Day – February 12th
guest | February 12th, 2013 in : Africa, conflict & resolution, days of significance, General
Today is Red Hand Day. This relatively 
new day was organized for the first time in 2002 as a coalition to stop the use of child soldiers in wars and armed conflict. The red hand has been used all over the world by many protesters and organizations to say ‘no’ to child recruitment. The goal of the celebration is to draw attention to the issue of child soldiers, thus, on Red Hand Day various public protest and demonstrations take place. As an ongoing public statement the organization is collecting red hand prints. Over the past years more than 350,000 hand prints have been collected…
On Red Hand Day, in 2009, all hand prints collected up until that date were handed to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in New York.
The movement has made some progress. In 2008, the first lawsuits regarding the recruitment of children were filed in the International Court of Justice in Den Haag. Despite this, however, there are still approximately 250,000 children used for fighting and running errands in armed conflict and war zones.
If you’d like to participate you can submit a photo or a report through the Red Hand Day website, or you can join their Facebook group for information about activities in your area.
Other celebrations in February:
National Foundation Day: Japan
Tags: Child soldier, coalition, hand print, Red Hand Day
Hello, I'm Deborah Swallow and, for the last fifteen years, I've worked in over thirty countries addressing the complexities of people working internationally across multiple cultures, so individuals and organisations alike can gain an authentic competitive edge and win in international markets. 