How can your handprint help save children from military servitude?
A red handprint is the worldwide symbol for child soldiery. Since 2002, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has been promoting Red Hand Day—where concerned people like you run events to collect red handprints and raise awareness of this awful problem.
What do I do with my handprints?
Send them to your local media. Include a note expressing your desire for more and better coverage of child soldiering. Write your name on the handprint, and the city you live in. Collect handprints from all your friends and family too! Our hope is to push the media to report more on conflicts involving children. Public opinion and demand drive political policy change—so by bringing this issue into the open, we hope to drive lasting change on a wider scale than has happened so far.
Why red hands?
The symbolism is obvious—but why send red handprints to officials instead of just collecting signatures? Two reasons:
- The imagery of the red hands is very striking. It’s far more memorable and personal than a signature, and its symbolism speaks to the urgent importance and deep impact of child soldiery on society.
- The tactile act of giving a handprint makes far more of an impression than merely scribbling a signature. It’s an unusual request, and one that shakes people out of their normal comfort zone and mode of thinking—forcing them to really consider the issue before them.
These two factors help to put child soldiery well forward in the public eye, and to impress upon officials the urgency of the problem.
What you can do
Please, get some red paint or ink and make a handprint on a sheet of paper. You can even just trace your hand with a red pen or crayon. Ask other people for handprints too—family members, friends, people on the street. Collect as many as you can, and then send them to media outlets you use.
- Straight 18: Children under 18 must not be used as soldiers, whether recruited voluntarily or by force.
- Penalty: Those who recruit children and use them as soldiers must be penalized by the UN security council.
- Protection: Former child soldiers must have access to both medical and psychological assistance.
- Political asylum: Asylum should be granted to former child soldiers in the countries they fled to.
- Aid program: Financial resources for reintegration programs for child soldiers should be increased.
- Export of arms: No arms, component parts or ammunition shall be exported to conflict zones where there are child soldiers.