Red Hand Day for Child Soldiers
12 February every year: Raising awareness of the plight of children forced to serve as soldiers.
Red Hand Day is an annual commemoration drawing attention to the plight of children forced to serve as soldiers in wars and armed conflicts.
The Red Hand symbol has been used all over the world by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and many civil society organisations to say no to the recruitment and use of child soldiers.
The Day was initiated in 2002 when the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict came into force on 12 February.
Since then, the number of child soldiers has hardly changed – there are still 250,000 children used in wars as soldiers.
12 February has become a day for national and regional coalitions, NGOs, individuals and interested parties to hold events to highlight the issue of child soldiers.