
Cartoon © Steve ‘Jonesy’ Jones
The International Labor Organization (ILO) based in Geneva, Switzerland, is holding its virtual summit this week with the participation of heads of state and government, ministers, representatives of employers and workers. At CARTOONS FOR CHANGE we decided to invite cartoonists and illustrators from all continents to protest for 365 days, starting now during the virtual summit of the ILO, to demand that governments and multinationals stop child labor. It is unacceptable, cruel and illegal that 30 years after the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child there are still almost 300 million working children.
On the occasion of the World Day Against Child Labor, which was commemorated on June 12th, the CARTOONS FOR CHANGE initiative, which I lead, invited cartoonists, illustrators and creatives, from all continents, to contribute their talent and creativity, sharpen their pencils and crayons, in defense of hundreds of millions of girls and boys victims of labor exploitation. Thanks to this first open call, CARTOONS FOR CHANGE received expressions of interest from more than a hundred professional cartoonists from all continents.
Because governments, international organizations, and especially multinational companies have done little, if anything, to eradicate child labor and protect the world’s poorest children, we in CARTOONS FOR CHANGE call cartoonists, illustrators, and others graphic artists to carry out a global protest that will not last just 24 hours but #365DaysAgainstChildLabor.

Cartoon © Gilmar
The quality of the CARTOONS FOR CHANGE we have received is exceptional, the immense enthusiasm of cartoonists to join the cause is something I did not expect. This gives us the assurance that our global campaign will have a significant impact, despite the fact that those who profit from large-scale child labor, to reduce their cost of labor, are people and companies with criminal behavior. Exploiting a minor is a crime, exploiting tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of girls and boys, like too many multinationals do, is a crime against humanity, this according to international law.

Cartoon © Chavo del Toro
The European Union claims to respect human rights and children’s rights, but Europe is today the largest financial beneficiary of misery and child labor in the rural communities that produce coffee, cocoa and many other agricultural products.
Switzerland claims to be an exemplary democracy, but the Swiss Confederation has more children in its coffee, tea and cocoa supply chain than children studying in all Swiss schools.
Most “development aid” programs from the United States, Canada, the European Union, Norway, Switezrland, the United Kingdom, Japan, etc. which claim to help eradicate child labor and reduce misery not only do not reduce them but also serve to hide the cruelty of neo-colonial business models that are the true cause of misery, and therefore of child labor.According to data from the International Labor Organization (ILO), more than 152 million children in child labor situations. In my opinion, ILO child labor figures underestimate the total number of exploited children. In Asia the ILO underestimates them by more than one hundred million children, in Africa more than 30 million children. This means that the total number of children working worldwide today may be very close to 300 million.
It is absolutely unacceptable, cruel and illegal that 70 years after signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 30 years after adopting the Convention on the Rights of the Child, even the coffee, tea and chocolate they consume in the United Nations institutions has child labor. This is true in the ILO and also in UNICEF that claims to protect children around the world, and in all the centers of power and influence of the developed world, where they claim to support and promote the Sustainable Development Goals. It is urgent to stop the exploitation of hundreds of millions of girls and boys. There are too many industries, such as chocolate, coffee, mining and many others in which child labor continues to increase, because it is highly profitable for multinationals.

Cartoon © Antonio Rodríguez
According to figures from the ILO, worldwide, child labor is concentrated primarily in agriculture (71%), which also includes fishing, forestry, livestock and aquaculture, and comprises both subsistence and commercial agriculture; 17% of children in child labor situation work in the service sector; and 12% in the industrial sector, particularly mining.

Cartoon © Mangena
CARTOONS FOR CHANGE cartoons and illustrations will be published in the press and shared on the Twitter and Instagram accounts: @Cartoons4Change and Facebook: @Cartoons4ChangeNow.
If you want more information about CARTOONS FOR CHANGE, or about how you can contribute to eradicate child labor and abolish slavery, please contact us through any of the social networks.
These almost three hundred million extremely poor working girls and boys are largely innocent and helpless victims of the indifference of good people. This cannot go on like this. We have to change it!
by Glenn Marshall
Spectator Article: the future of cartooning
July 30, 2020 in Comment, General
A rare mass-gathering of Private Eye cartoonists in 2013 (Rob Murray standing, 9th from right)
Rob Murray writes in response to Nick Newman’s Spectator piece (see previous post):
Nick Newman, one of the UK’s best and most prolific gag cartoonists, has written an article for this week’s Spectator about the challenges facing our art form. He very kindly gives me a mention.
It makes for sobering reading: the number of open-call outlets for cartoonists has dropped massively in recent years; meanwhile, younger artists seem to be dissuaded by the likelihood of rejection, or simply prefer the perceived glamour and relative accessibility of monetising their work through social media platforms instead.
These are trends I recognise. When I was starting out as a cartoonist in the 2000s, more experienced nib-wielders would often tell me how unlucky I was to have missed out on Punch (which had folded several years earlier) – a magazine that would publish dozens of gags per issue, often phoning cartoonists out of the blue to offer them a double-page spread on which to go crazy.
These days, Private Eye is the undisputed champion of gag cartoons in this country, and I’m delighted to be counted among its regulars. The Spectator and The Oldie also provide a fair few spots – and encouragingly, there are new titles embracing the art form, such as the recently launched Critic magazine.
The issue of young cartoonists coming through is a tricky one to solve – and something of a doubled-edged sword.
One of Rob’s first Spectator cartoons © Rob Murray
I sold my first cartoons to Private Eye and The Spectator when I was 26; I’m now 39 and I’m only aware of two – yes, two – cartoonists younger than me who currently sell to these magazines.
At the risk of falling into fogeyisms, the evidence does seem to suggest that younger artists are dissuaded by the demands of the job: it’s great fun, but can also be hard graft – and it can take many, many rejections before you even sell your first gag. When I started, I was working long hours in a ‘proper’ job – then spending late nights at the drawing board to meet self-imposed deadlines for work that would never be published. But without doing that, I would never have broken through.
At the same time, every cartoonist is fighting for their inch of white space in these magazines – do I really need some young star player rocking up and giving me a run for my money? In a word, yes.
Without new talent coming through and attracting the attention of the editors, even the most cartoon-friendly magazines might eventually run out of decent material, and give up on the gags.
And yet the audience for cartoons remains strong and enthusiastic. They are hugely popular with readers – and people are immediately intrigued when I mention what I do for a living.
A very early © Rob Murray from Private Eye
Like any artist, the cartoonist needs to adapt to the marketplace. It’s true that it can be difficult (if not impossible) to make a living by relying exclusively on the best-known publications. And even with fewer new cartoonists on the scene, competition for space remains fierce.
To some extent, I see these big-name magazines as my shop window – the place I can show off some of my best work, and reach a big audience. I then try and use those credentials to find well-paying jobs elsewhere – often by tempting the editor of a more obscure or niche title to add my work to their pages, when they’ve previously never even thought of using cartoons.
Instead of assuming the art form will become extinct on the printed page, we should all be finding ways to create our own markets and ensure that cartoons are here to stay.
Tags: business, cartooning, cartoonists, cartoons, future of cartooning, gag cartoons, gags, Nick Newman, Private Eye, Punch, Rob Murray, Spectator, The Oldie 3 Comments »