About Red Hand Day
The International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers has been observed on February 12th 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.
On February 12th 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accepted the red hands, pledging to "stamp out" the use of child soldiers.
Since then, thousands of handprints have been collected in more than 50 countries and handed over to politicians and to responsible parties, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. There is progress, but there are still 250,000 child soldiers in the world
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