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Red Hand Day, :February 12 each year, is an annual commemoration day on which pleas are made to political leaders and events are staged around the world to draw attention to the fates of child soldiers, children who are forced to serve as soldiers in wars and armed conflicts. The aim of Red Hand Day is to call for action against this practice, and support for children who are affected by it. Children have been used repeatedly as soldiers in recent years including armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, Côte d'Ivoire, Myanmar, Philippines, Colombia, and Palestine.〔(About Red Hand Day ) Red Hand Day website〕 Estimates on the number of children engaging in armed conflict around the world show no change between 2006 and 2009.〔(On 'Red Hand Day', children call for an end to their forced use in conflict ) UNICEF〕〔(Red Hand Day: ICRC calls for end to recruitment of child soldiers ) International Committee of the Red Cross, 2006〕 Rehabilitation for child-soldiers returned to their communities ranges from inadequate to non-existent.〔(Hope and concern after results UN Report ) War Child website〕 Red Hand Day was initiated in 2002 when the ''Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict'' entered into force on February 12, 2002. This protocol was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in May 2000 and currently has signatures from over 100 different states. A number of international organizations are active against the use of children as soldiers. These organizations include, for example, the United Nations Child Fund (UNICEF), Amnesty International, Terre des Hommes or the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The work of these organizations can be summarized by the abbreviation ''DDR'': Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration. ==Child recruitment== The worldwide number of child soldiers is estimated to be 250,000 (as of 2009, roughly unchanged since 2006), a third of whom are girls, in at least 17 countries—including some who have ratified the treaty;〔(On 'Red Hand Day', children call for an end to their forced use in conflict )UNICEF〕〔(Red Hand Day: ICRC calls for end to recruitment of child soldiers ) International Committee of the Red Cross, 2006〕 however it is difficult to know the correct number, as most of them are deployed in armed rebel groups. The most important reason that armed groups or even some governments recruit children as soldiers is their diminished capability to distinguish between right and wrong, as well as between reality and an adventurous game. Up to a certain age, children don't have a full grasp of the finality of death and the severity of the act of killing a human being. They lack the ability to correctly identify dangers and to assess the risks of specific situations. Children are also easy to influence and be made to follow a specific cause. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Red Hand Day」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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