20 Years of Red Hand Day
Osnabrück/Berlin, February 10, 2022. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Red Hand Day on February 12, the children's rights organization terre des hommes Germany and the GLOBAL NET – STOP THE ARMS TRADE (GN-STAT) are calling on the German government to take concrete steps to protect children in armed conflicts. An estimated 250,000 boys and girls are currently being exploited as soldiers in at least 24 countries around the world; every day, children are forcibly recruited as soldiers, killed, maimed, used as spies, porters, or fighters, and sexually abused.
“On the 20th anniversary of Red Hand Day, we call on the new German government to adopt an action plan with concrete steps to protect children in armed conflicts. The coalition government has announced a restrictive arms export policy and an arms export control law in its coalition agreement – this is long overdue, because German small arms also end up in the hands of child soldiers. It is high time that no more German weapons are delivered to war zones and crisis regions and that no children under 18 are recruited as soldiers,” said Ralf Willinger, child rights expert at terre des hommes . “Germany is the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter and, in the last legislative period, exported more armaments than ever before. A significant portion of these go directly to states involved in armed conflicts and serious human rights violations, such as the killing or recruitment of children. These include the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Brazil, India, Pakistan, and Thailand.” Arms exports to such countries must be urgently stopped and prohibited by law; this must be a central component of the announced arms export control law of the new federal government.
“To illustrate the full extent of the violation of children’s rights, terre des hommes and GLOBAL NET are publishing the case study GN-CASE 07, Child Soldiers and Arms Exports . It features interviews with former child soldiers who fought with German weapons or were injured by them,” said Dr. Helmut Lohrer of the physicians’ organization IPPNW, spokesperson for GN-STAT. “The sad reality is that large quantities of German small arms and ammunition are being shipped via other countries to war zones and into the hands of children, for example, via the USA or Turkey. Exports of small arms and ammunition must therefore be completely prohibited by law and urgently stopped. We demand that the corporations that have profited from arms exports establish a victims’ fund, the money from which would also be available for the rehabilitation of child soldiers severely traumatized by their service in war.”
Red Hand Day was first observed on February 12, 2002, in Geneva to mark the entry into force of the so-called "Optional Protocol on the Use of Child Soldiers" to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Optional Protocol on the Protection of Children in Armed Conflict). terre des hommes and other children's and human rights organizations used the symbol of the red hand for the first time during an event in Geneva to draw attention to the exploitation of children as soldiers. The Optional Protocol was initiated and enforced by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, which was co-founded by terre des hommes . Since 2003, the Red Hand Day campaign has been held annually in Germany by terre des hommes and other organizations.
Further information:
- New case study »Child soldiers and arms exports« (February 10, 2022) ( terre des hommes & GLOBAL NET – STOP THE ARMS TRADE & RüstungsInformationsBüro RIB eV): www.gn-stat.org
- Study “Small Arms in Small Hands – German Arms Exports Violate Children’s Rights” (2020) ( terre des hommes , Bread for the World, BITS): www.tdh.de/kleinwaffen
- Regarding the topic of child soldiers: www.kindersoldaten.de
- For Red Hand Day: www.tdh.de/redhandday , www.redhandday.org
Key demands from terre des hommes and GLOBAL NET for Red Hand Day:
- No recruitment of children under 18 years of age as soldiers worldwide – not even for the German Armed Forces.
- A legal ban on arms exports to countries involved in armed conflicts and serious human rights violations.
- Legal prohibition on the export of small arms and related ammunition.
- No permits will be granted for the production of German armaments abroad or for the transfer of know-how.
- Further demands can be found in the publications and websites mentioned above.