#raiseyourred

Your Red Hand counts!

"Red Hand Day (February 12th) and the campaign to stop the use of child soldiers [have existed] for over 15 years. Hundreds and 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."

Help to stop this abuse of children. Show your Red Hand to the world!

Our demands:

Straight 18: No child under the age of 18 may be used or trained in armies, armed groups or other military units

Punishment of those responsible

Care, protection and political asylum for former child soldiers

Expand financial support for aid programs for child soldiers

Stop of arms exports

Promotion of peace education

Stay tuned over the next week as the Dallaire Institute shares highlights of this important initiative and ways you can #RaiseYourRed to help end the practice of children being recruited and used as soldiers.

Photo credit HERE

From child soldiers to carpenters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

"To mark IVD 2022, UN Volunteers lend support to APROJED under the Actions and Projects for Sustainable Development, an organization in Turunga, a Nyiragongo municipality on the outskirts of Goma.

This organization houses a training facility formed in 2006. Here, former child soldiers and vulnerable children are taught practical life skills, such as carpentry. So far, this training facility has trained and imparted vocational training to more than 600 children."

26 minutes: counting down for elephant conservation

"Every 26 minutes, on average, one African elephant dies for its ivory. This gloomy statistic is fueled by rampant poaching, by the land and water shortages that drive tense conflicts between people and animals, and by the stifling threats of climate change.

Yet, working together, we can achieve wonders in 26 minutes. That’s how long it takes for IFAW and our conservation partners to protect the life of an African elephant through the complex process of translocation, or movement from one place to another."

REFLECTIONS FROM OUR CEO ON ICC CONVICTION OF LRA LEADER DOMINIC ONGWEN

“I believe Ongwen’s story is an extreme example of a pervasive reality: that the concepts of “perpetrator” and “victim” are not clear-cut, but rather complex, tangled, and non-binary; and that violence most often takes place in the context of relationships, where the perpetrator’s punishment and complete separation from society do not necessarily result in justice or healing for victims.”

Child soldiers – How do we find justice when the perpetrator was first a victim?

“The conviction of Ongwen is complicated and demonstrates how far the world still has to go in its protection of children from some of the most horrific violations during armed conflict. Communities suffer many consequences when the recruitment and use of children as soldiers is not prevented.”

Why do some child soldiers heal and not others? What one scholar found.

“With help from Mr. Charles and many others, Dr. Betancourt and her colleagues developed Youth Readiness Intervention, an evidence-based approach that views childhood trauma through a collective frame, one that includes family, community, and culture.”

Healing takes a village.

How 30,000 elephant 'selfies' will help in conservation

“The 30,000 "selfies" are being used in a conservation project to help save endangered elephants. The researchers are developing new technology to help reduce human-elephant conflicts in countries where elephants roam free.”

International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers (Red Hand Day)

February 12th

#raiseyourred ✋