The Graphix Project seeks to allow human rights and social activists, high school students and other youth demographics globally to connect, plan and learn from each other. Breaking the mold of human rights education, the cartoon-based project will develop a targeted activist toolkit and grade appropriate curriculum, as well as graphic history books, comics, animation, podcasts, and online platforms for engagement and activation. In 2021 a global online survey was conducted with Amnesty International and shared with more than 200 human rights and social justice organizations globally. The survey results were then fed into an in-depth Yale led focus group program. In 2026 after five years of development, including the largest research effort on activism and art, Ohio State University Press will be publishing our graphic adaptation of the Water Defenders, which chronicles the efforts of activists in El Salvador to protect their drinking water and advocate for environmental justice.
The project is founded and led by Christian Clark, a Visiting Research Fellow at Fordham’s Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) and former Chief of Public Advocacy and Campaigns at UN OCHA. Christian heads The Graphix Project, which seeks to allow human rights and social activists, high school students, and other youth demographics globally to connect, plan and learn from each other.
Christian Clark is a cartoonist (Washington Post, Financial Times, Toronto Star, Guardian, etc.) and two-time Emmy Award-winning writer (Sesame Street) who has written and/or illustrated three graphic histories including the 2017 UNtold: The Real Story of the United Nations in Peace and War. Christian has extensive international advocacy and human rights experience working for the BBC and the United Nations in North America, Asia, Africa and the Balkans. He led the Meena project for some years, a groundbreaking UNICEF effort to advance girls’ rights using animation for social change in Asia.
“To many Malaysians, human rights are western values and are antithesis to Asian values because the former give importance to the individual while the latter to community. Furthermore, there is the perception that upholding human rights necessitates pampering to the wants of the individuals. With these two beliefs of human rights, it is not unexpected that the attitudes towards human rights of those in authority–in both the private and public sectors–parents and the society at large are generally negative. But, increasingly people, especially the vulnerable groups, are appreciating human rights as they provide them with leverage for a better quality of life.”
– Chiam Heng Keng, Former head of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia
The Graphix Project 