† Kofi Annan, Honorary Chair until 2018, with founders, from left to right: Plantu, Marie Heuzé, Chappatte

The Freedom Cartoonists Foundation (Formerly: Swiss Foundation Cartooning for Peace) supports professional editorial cartooning as an essential part of civic debate. We stand for a free press as a pillar of democracy and of which political cartoons are a vital element. Through our actions, we defend freedom of speech in a spirit of dialogue.

The Foundation pursues its mission through two main activities: the biennial International Cartoonist Award, accompanied by a cartoon exhibition, and the Support Fund for threatened editorial cartoonists. We also organize educational projects aimed at fostering creativity, tolerance and an understanding of human rights.

The International Cartoonist Award

by the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation and the City of Geneva

The 2022 award will be announced on May 3, 2022.

The 2020 Award was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.

Musa Kart is the recipient of our fourth International Cartoonist Award. Kofi Annan, Nobel Prize laureate and Honorary Chair of our Foundation, wrote: “Musa Kart and his colleagues confront us with our own responsibility to preserve freedom of expression, to act in support of their struggle and to provide assistance to those who are deprived of expressing themselves through their art and risk years of imprisonment for their drawings. The Turkish cartoonist was prevented from traveling to Geneva. His wife received the Award in his name in Geneva, on May 3, 2018.

The International Cartoon Exhibition

by the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation and the City of Geneva

In collaboration with Association Cartooning for Peace, Paris

In January 2019 The World Economic Forum asked our Foundation to present the work of editorial cartoonists from all over the world in Davos. Related panels were organized at the Annual Meeting.

In May and June 2018, on the sunny banks of Lake Geneva at Quai Wilson we hosted our biennial international cartoon exhibition featuring works from the 2018 laureate Musa Kart, as well as cartoons from all over the world distributed in three sections: “Women’s Rights”, “Fake News and Populism”, “The New Walls”.

Our Other Actions

Partner Project

Bringing together cartoonists to tackle social and political issues affecting their community. A series of collaborative projects organized by Chappatte, with the help of Swiss Foreign Affairs.