A 48-page comic book, titled Critical Code, aims to educate students about the importance of multilateral cooperation. It has been distributed in Geneva’s secondary schools and across 15 other Swiss cantons.
Since 2023, international Geneva has faced challenging years, marked by thousands of job cuts across UN agencies, the Palais des Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and scores of NGOs, as well as relocations of key operations. The impact has been profound, forcing Geneva to rethink its future.
In response, the Foundation for Geneva – celebrating its 50th anniversary this year – has championed the creation of a comic book exploring Geneva’s international ecosystem. The work, published in French, German, Italian and English, is called Critical Code.
The comic was unveiled on Thursday at the Palais Eynard, attended by Geneva’s mayor, Christina Kitsos, along with Anne Hiltpold, the state councillor responsible for public education, Bilel Jamoussi, deputy director of the International Telecommunication Union’s standardization bureau, Mauro Vignati, a technology and warfare advisor at the ICRC, and Pedro Fuenzalida Aldunate, a student at the International School of Geneva. The comic was created by Fabian Menor, a Geneva-based artist and graduate of the School of Comics and Illustration, and the winner of the 2025 Töpffer Comic Prize.
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Reinvention through AI
Menor sought to depict modern international Geneva by addressing a global concern: artificial intelligence. As Geneva seeks to reinvent itself amid a crisis in multilateralism, emerging technologies could offer a path forward.
While some analysts argue it may be too late, Jamoussi remains convinced that Geneva still has a vital role to play in shaping the future of AI and its regulation. A summit planned for June 2027 is expected to set the tone for these efforts. The comic’s author echoed this optimism, anticipating the adoption of an “international treaty for the responsible use of technology”.
Educating the next generation
The 48-page comic has already been distributed by the Department of Public Education to secondary school classes in Geneva and a dozen other cantons. Its goal is to “challenge young people to think about the individual and global implications of AI” while also highlighting the importance of international cooperation, much of which takes place in Geneva. As a key pillar of Swiss foreign policy, the comic also aims to showcase the often-overlooked strengths of international Geneva to the rest of the Swiss population.
This article was originally published in French in Le Temps. It has been adapted and translated into English by Geneva Solutions. Articles from third-party websites are not licensed under Creative Commons and cannot be republished without the media’s consent. Geneva Solutions used an AI tool to assist with the translation of this article. The final version was verified and edited by our editorial team.
