The Red Hand Campaign[1]
Today, an estimated 300,000 child soldiers, some as young as eight years old, are fighting in at least 14 countries around the world. Boys and girls alike are forced into combat, exploited for their labor, and subjected to unspeakable violence. Although a UN treaty prohibits the participation of children under the age of 18 in hostilities, too often the treaty is not enforced, and many countries have not yet ratified it.
In 2009, hundreds of youth and student groups from around the world called for stronger action to end the use of child soldiers. They gathered over 250,000 “red hands”—the symbol of the global campaign against the use of child soldiers—and presented them to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York on February 12, 2009. In response, the Secretary-General pledged that the entire UN system would work to “stamp out” such abuse.
Within one year, the campaign turned into a worldwide movement, including participation in countries where children are used as soldiers such as India, Columbia, the Philippines, Uganda and Congo, where more than tens of thousands of prints were collected. Campaigns were done at music and film festivals, at city events, at school parties, conferences, and at sports events. Donations for child soldiers’ care projects were collected.
Concerned people from around the world join in raising awareness every year on February 12, Red Hand Day. More than 386,000 handprints have been collected in more than 50 countries.
The Red Hand Campaign now is pressing for universal ratification of the treaty banning the use of child soldiers. The treaty, known as the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, prohibits the use of children under age 18 in hostilities or their forced recruitment. As of spring 2012, 144 governments—over two-thirds of the world’s countries— have ratified it.
However, 49 countries have still not ratified the optional protocol. The Red Hand Day Campaign urges these countries to ratify the optional protocol and make clear their absolute commitment to ending the use of child soldiers. The goal is for every country in the world to ratify the optional protocol and to adhere to its prohibition on using children in war.
Although the use of child soldiers has been illegal since February 12, 2002, the number of child soldiers has hardly changed since then.
The goal of the campaign is to end the use of child soldiers through the following:
1.Punishment of the responsible parties. All persons, states and armed groups that recruit children must be publicly named and appropriately punished before the International Criminal Court or national courts. The respective states and armed groups must be publicly convicted and subjected to sanctions (economic consequences, travel bans, frozen accounts).
2.Protection, assistance and political asylum. Former child soldiers need to be provided with medical and psychological assistance, protection from being re-recruited, school education and vocational training, especially when they are refugees in an industrialized country. Former child soldiers must be granted protection and political asylum in all countries to which they flee.
3.More funds for child soldiers aid programs. State and international funding for prevention and child soldier reintegration programs must be increased. In many countries where child soldiers are deployed, there are no funds available for supporting such programs.
4.Ban on arms exports. It is now prohibited to export weapons (especially small arms), weapons components, and ammunition to crisis regions where child soldiers are being deployed. Illegal routes through which weapons reach crisis-hit countries must also be closed down: There must be a ban on the granting of arms production licenses as well as a ban on exporting weapons to third countries that pass these weapons on to other crisis regions.
5.Promote peace education. Peace education and non-violent conflict resolution should be integrated into school curriculum and teacher-training.
[1]Information taken from accessed on 11-11-2013.