GENEVA, Switzerland: Indian cartoonist Rachita Taneja and Hong Kong’s Zunzi were honoured with the biennial Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award on Friday, World Press Freedom Day.
Taneja has faced a prison sentence since a member of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party complained about her online webcomic Sanitary Panels, whose cartoons deal with topics such as harassment, homophobia, menstruation and authoritarianism.
Zunzi was dismissed by his newspaper in 2023, three years after China enacted national security laws that reshaped Hong Kong’s arts, culture and media. Officials complained that his images were “distorting and unethical”.
India is ranked 159th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index 2024, while Hong Kong is ranked 135th.
Friday’s Kofi Annan award ceremony was accompanied by an exhibition of cartoons for the press, which was opened by the UN High Commission for Human Rights on the shores of Lake Geneva by Iranian lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.
“World Press Freedom Day is a chance to stand up for the truth, protect those who work bravely to reveal it and stand up to oppression,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on X.
He said 71 journalists were killed and 320 imprisoned last year, while repression, criminalization and attacks against journalists are met with impunity.
“This cannot become our status quo. In this crucial election year, we must ensure that governments protect our right to hold those in power to account,” he said.
This year’s awards and exhibition highlight the “key role of women in the fight for freedom (and) … the challenges faced by female cartoonists around the world,” said organizers – the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation and the city of Geneva.
Taneja faces six months in jail if India’s Supreme Court upholds the complaint by a member of the ruling BJP’s student wing.
The country’s press freedom rankings have declined significantly since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, while curbs on civil society have caused rights groups such as Amnesty International to scale back their local operations.
Born in Hong Kong in 1955, Zunzi began his career as a political cartoonist with Ming Pao in 1983.
The paper fired him last year after months of criticism from officials and attacks on free speech, the foundation said.
The authorities complained that his drawings depicted “sanctimonious humor that damages Hong Kong’s image”.
His books and albums are banned from public libraries.
The “Cartooning for Freedom” exhibition from Friday to June 2 focuses on three themes — women’s rights; ongoing wars in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan; and artificial intelligence.
