The 3rd International Immigration Cartoon Competition by HRS, Time to Help, and Dialogue Society is underway, aiming to raise awareness. The 3rd International Immigration Cartoon Competition organised by Human Rights Solidarity, Time to Help UK and Dialogue Society has started. The competition called ‘Humanity Cartoons’ has been announced on the relevant platforms and some artists have already submitted their works. The competition will remain open until 15 May and the winning cartoonists will be awarded a total of 3,300 USD. The results of the competition will be made public in early June.

The competition focuses on raising awareness and inspiring reflection on the plight of migrants through cartoon art. Participants are encouraged to be 16 years of age or older and to submit original and creative cartoons that specifically address the challenges faced by migrants.

Migration and asylum are among the most important topics of discussion in the world today. Migration flows from East to West and from South to North are increasing exponentially every year. Last year, around 80,000 people applied for asylum in the UK. According to the UN report, more than 110 million people were forcibly displaced by the end of 2023.

3 organisations working on behalf of humanity are organising this competition to draw attention to this important issue through the vast and expressive language of art. The winning entries will be exhibited during Refugee Week in June and at other times across the UK. This raises public awareness about the reality of migrants and refugees. The winning entries from last year’s competition were exhibited in London, Newcastle and Oxford and attracted considerable attention.

For more information about the competition, please click here.

20 JUNE 2022/LONDON

While the British government was planning to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, we organised a travelling exhibition at the famous London landmarks to remind the public of the difficulties refugees face on World Refugee Day, on the 20th of June.

While the decision to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was an extensive discussion in the British Parliament, on the occasion of World Refugee Day, on the 20th of June, we organised an exhibition known as the ‘Exhibition in Exile’ of cartoons drawn by world-renowned artists to draw attention to refugee problems. It was a travelling exhibition at famous London landmarks to remind the public of the difficulties refugees face.

The exhibition hosted a selection of the 120 best cartoons selected initially from among 1,200 submissions to a global cartoon contest organised by KYM (Kimse Yok Mu) in 2016. In addition to these cartoons, the cartoon was carried by 25 volunteers, most of whom were also refugees, with successful refugee stories to raise awareness. We moved the cartoon through the British Parliament, Parliament Square, Victoria Tower Garden, and Westminster Bridge.

One of the cartoons in the exhibition was by Oleksiy Kustovski that describes how refugees travel thousands of miles alone, carrying their whole lives in a small suitcase. It is sometimes a mother and child, sometimes an unaccompanied child or family, who are fleeing to safety from the dangers of their birth country.

Xavier Bonilla drew the lives lost at sea while fleeing to safety. People are desperately getting into the dangerous waters despite not knowing how to swim, and sometimes the weather conditions or pushbacks don’t let them continue their journey. Only a small number of people survive in a sinking dinghy.

When we told the people who viewed the exhibition what difficulties a refugee went through, we immediately met with their support and their interest became an absolute source of motivation for our new projects.