#redhandday

Repost from Exile International:

"Today is Red Hand Day—a global call to say enough. The red handprint represents resistance, protection, and a promise to stand with children affected by war.

Children should be holding books, not weapons.

Dreaming about their future, not fighting to survive.

Yet in war zones around the world, children are among the most vulnerable. Traffickers and armed groups exploit chaos—using fear, hunger, and false promises to pull children into lives they never chose. Many are stripped of their childhood, their safety, and their sense of home.

Girls face unique dangers, often subjected to abuse or forced into relationships meant to control and silence them. When conflict drags on and the world looks away, their suffering is hidden—but it does not stop.

Still, hope remains. Survivors are proving that healing is possible. With trauma care, education, and community support, former child soldiers are rediscovering what it means to be children again.

Draw or paint a red handprint on paper or your palm.

Take a photo holding up your hand in solidarity.

Share it on social media using #RedHandDay. "

Read Dallaire Institute's full statement HERE

Red Hand Day: Supporting Child Soldiers on the Path to Peace

"Even after the fighting has subsided, many communities in both countries continue to experience lasting consequences, including lost education, stalled socioeconomic development, and deep psychological trauma. The path to reintegration is long and difficult, as those once forced into armed groups grow into young adults who are too often marginalized and denied the chance to live full, stable lives within their communities."

"Peace begins with the youth, and opportunity is essential to sustaining it."

Former child soldier: "Don't leave these children alone!"

"On Red Hand Day, February 12th: The Child Soldiers Alliance demands asylum for children from war zones and an urgent reversal of the massive cuts to humanitarian aid."

Colombia Red Hand Day

"People cover a sheet in handprints at an event marking Red Hand Day, also known as the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, in Bogota, Colombia, where illegal armed groups recruit children, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026."

Child soldiers are still a reality in South Sudan

"In South Sudan, children continue to be recruited and used in the country’s ongoing conflicts. A UN report details violations of children’s rights by both state and non-state actors and calls on the South Sudanese government to improve its protection efforts."

'Tour for Tusks' brings elephant conservation efforts to Florida

"Wildlife SOS, a global wildlife conservation and welfare organization that provides specialized veterinary care to wildlife and works to reduce the human-wildlife conflict, will debut its 2026 Tour for Tusks. The speaking tour is designed to educate, inspire and mobilize audiences to help secure a safer future for India’s elephants by removing them from the streets of India."

The best ways to see elephants without harming them

Here are a few examples of ethical wildlife tourism that allow you to see these majestic animals responsibly:

Visiting elephant sanctuaries for a genuine experience

Observing elephants in the wild: Responsible wildlife tours

How you can support elephant conservation:

Donating to elephant protection programmes

🇨🇦 Statement on International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers

Aid groups ask Canada to prevent child soldiers by rallying G7 heads around education

“Education is a fundamental pillar of violence prevention within the global security strategies of the international community,” Dallaire says.

"Every year, February 12th — Red Hand Day — stands as a global reminder that children should never be used as soldiers. It is a day to amplify their voices, demand justice, and declare together:

No child should be forced to fight. No child should be trafficked into war. No child should bear the scars of violence they did not create."

"The Children Associated with Armed Forces and Armed Groups (CAAFAG) Task Force and their members stand together for Red Hand Day, calling for urgent, collective action to prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, support their release, and address their recovery and reintegration needs."

In simple words: ‘End the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. Children must always be protected!’

This Red Hand Day, explore key tools and guidance to design and implement programmes for the prevention, release, and reintegration of CAAFAG HERE

"There is hope. Around the world, organizations, activists, and survivors are fighting for their freedom. Those who have escaped captivity are learning to heal, to dream again. With trauma care, education, and reintegration programs, former child soldiers are reclaiming their lives. But the fight isn’t over. Their voices must be heard. Their stories must be told. And that’s where you come in."

Dallaire Institute’s African Centre of Excellence Commemorates the International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers (Red Hand Day) with Conference

The conference, which took place in Kigali, Rwanda, on February 19th & 20th, convened policymakers, subject matter experts, youth, and practitioners from civil society organizations, international organizations, and the regional members of security sector institutions.

Red Hand Day 2025: Historical Perspectives on Child Soldiers

"Between 2005 and 2022, more than 105,000 children are estimated to have been recruited and used in armed conflict around the world. Today, under-eighteens are involved in contemporary conflicts in Ukraine, Palestine, Syria, Ethiopia and elsewhere, navigating global norms of adulthood as they collide with local realities of militarism, resistance and survival."

"Historical research helps to reveal the longer-term structural, cultural and political factors that shape both children’s military recruitment and responses to it from local and international communities, as well as its relationship to other forms of child labour exploitation and youth violence. As we turn our attention to mark 2025’s Red Hand Day, the daily experiences of violence and instability plaguing children and adults alike around the world reminds us of the historically contingent realities that affect children’s participation in armed conflict."

How child soldiers heal after the trauma of war

Shadows into Light looks at the mental health of Sierra Leone’s former child soldiers.

Learn more here: A Life Among Elephants

Africa’s elephants have been in dramatic decline for 50 years. What can be done to save them – new study

"African elephants have experienced serious losses in contemporary times (between 1964 and 2016). The average population trend for African savanna elephants was a decline of 70%. Forest elephant populations declined by over 90%. While declines in the species had been widely recognised, understanding of the overall magnitude and regional context was lacking until now."

Fourth Asian Elephant Range States meeting concludes with the launch of declaration for Asian elephant conservation

"Government representatives from 13 Asian elephant range countries, along with members of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG) and the Center for Species Survival (CSS) Asian Elephant, convened for the Fourth Asian Elephant Range States Meeting, held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from 5-7 February 2025."

"The meeting concluded with the launch of the 2025 Siem Reap Declaration for Asian Elephant Conservation, reaffirming the commitment of participating countries to continued regional collaboration. Expanding on the foundation of the 2022 Kathmandu Declaration, this new Declaration provides a comprehensive framework for range-wide conservation efforts, ensuring the long-term protection of wild elephant populations and their habitats across Asia. Access the Seam Reap Declaration here."

Show Your Red Hand to the World

Help stop the spread of child soldiering by raising awareness this #RedHandDay, advocating against the use of children in armed conflict worldwide. Painting hands red symbolizes the blood shed by children forced to commit acts of violence as child soldiers. 

250,000+ children as young as seven are enslaved as child soldiers — kidnapped and forced to fight and kill at the expense of their own lives. Any number of children is too many, and it's time to take a stand.

Photo credit: Exile International

To mark the International Day against the use of Child Soldiers, the Special Representative is launching the Children and Armed Conflict Primer

"To continue the efforts to end and prevent grave violations against children and to mark this year’s Red Hand Day, the Special Representative is proud to announce the launch of an online course, the Children and Armed Conflict Primer. This course has been developed by the Office of the Special Representative and the United Nations System Staff College thanks to the financial support of the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of Malta, and builds on the lessons learned of the pilot Virtual Summer School on Child Protection in Armed Conflict organized in 2022."

This free and self-paced online course is open to all and targets a diverse range of professionals, including from, governments, the United Nations, regional organizations, civil society, and academia.

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.”