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How a World Cup comment started a human rights debate in Germany

A Qatari World Cup ambassador called homosexuality a "damage in the mind" in a German TV interview, sparking criticism in Europe just 12 days before the tournament kicks off.

Boycott Qatar 2022
Dortmund fans unveil a "Boycott Qatar" banner at their home stadium. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bernd Thissen

Qatar will accept gay visitors but “they have to accept our rules”, former international footballer Khalid Salman said in the interview with the ZDF broadcaster, due to be aired on Tuesday evening.

Salman also said homosexuality was “haram” — forbidden in Islam — during the interview, which was abruptly broken off after his comments.

Qatar has come under sustained fire over its human rights record ahead of the World Cup, including its treatment of foreign workers and its stance on women’s and LGBTQ rights.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Tuesday called Salman’s comments “awful”.

“That is also the reason why we are working to hopefully improve things in Qatar in the future,” said Faeser, who is also Germany’s minister for sport.

Faeser said last week on a visit to Qatar that she will attend the World Cup after being given a “guarantee of safety” for LGBTQ fans by Qatar’s prime minister.

‘Homophobic basic attitude’

The German minister on Tuesday said she had “no new indications from him that anything has changed”.

Faeser described her trip to Qatar as “not easy” and said it had been “important for me to hold talks there to see who would do what for the safety of German fans during the World Cup”.

German lawmakers joined Faeser on the visit, but the German government’s human rights commissioner Luise Amtsberg pulled out.

Faeser had previously said Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup was “very tricky” from Berlin’s perspective, prompting Doha to summon the German ambassador.

READ ALSO: Berlin protests Russia’s World Cup ban on German journalist

The German Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) on Tuesday demanded that the government issue a travel warning for Qatar and cancel all official trips to the World Cup.

It called the comments “disturbing and yet not surprising”, alleging that they revealed the “homophobic basic attitude of the regime in Qatar”.

The Human Rights Watch group has accused Qatar of detaining and abusing LGBTQ people in the run-up to the World Cup, allegations furiously denied by the government.

Calls for boycott 

Captains from a number of leading European countries, including England, France and Germany, have said they will wear armbands in rainbow colours with the message “One Love” during the tournament in an anti-discrimination campaign.

World Cup organisers did not immediately respond when asked for comment by AFP but have previously defended the country’s rights record.

“No matter your race, your religion, your social and sexual orientation, you are most welcome, and Qataris are ready to receive you with the best hospitality that you can imagine,” FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura said last week.

But Wenzel Michalski, the head of Human Rights Watch in Germany, on Tuesday warned there was “a big risk” that open displays of homosexuality in Qatar “will be punished — no matter what assurances there are”.

Fans in stadiums across Germany have called for boycotts of the tournament.

In Dortmund last weekend, fans in the club’s yellow wall — the all-standing southern stand — unveiled a banner saying “BOYCOTT QATAR 2022”.

The sentiment was echoed by Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin fans in the teams’ clash in the German capital, as well as fans at the second-division game between Fortuna Düsseldorf and St Pauli.

Germany play Japan in their opening match on November 23th.

By Femke Colborne

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ANTI-SEMITISM

‘Special responsibility’: Why Germany is shaking up citizenship test questions

As part of its efforts to crack down on anti-Semitism, the German Interior Ministry will add multiple questions on Israel, the Holocaust and Germany's 'historic responsibility' to the citizenship test.

'Special responsibility': Why Germany is shaking up citizenship test questions

Almost everyone who goes through the naturalisation process in Germany has to pass what’s known as a citizenship test, or Einbürgerungstest. This German-language exam contains 33 questions that are selected from a catalogue of 300 general questions, plus 10 questions related to your home state.

The topics cover everything from German history, politics and the German way of life, and applicants have to get at least 17 questions right in order to pass.

Soon, however, the topics will get even broader. According to reports in German news magazine Der Spiegel, the Interior Ministry has drafted 12 new questions that they want to add to the test in the near future, tackling the prevalent issue of anti-Semitism and Germany’s relationship with Israel.  

These new questions will be made official by a new ordinance from the Ministry of Interior, and will then be added to the range of questions that can be selected as part of the 33-question test.

The list of questions revolve around Germany’s Jewish community, with topics such as the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and the history of Israel all set to be included in the test. 

One question, for example, asks how long ago the first Jews arrived in what is today known as Germany, while another questions how Holocaust denial is punished in Germany. 

To see the full list of questions obtained by Spiegel, see our explainer below:

REVEALED: The new questions being added to Germany’s citizenship test

Why is Germany adding new questions to the citizenship test?

Since the terrorist group Hamas carried out its brutal attacks on Israeli civilians on October 7th, 2023, anti-Semitism has been firmly in the spotlight in Germany. 

As well as clamping down on pro-Palestinian demonstrators, the German government has been under pressure to tighten up its citizenship rules in order to prevent anti-Semites becoming naturalised as Germans.

This was one of the key issues that held up Germany’s sweeping reform of citizenship rules in autumn last year.

Politicians from the right-wing CDU and CSU parties have repeatedly argued that anti-Semitism was “imported” into Germany by Turkish and Arab communities, and have called for anti-Semites to be stripped of citizenship and barred from ever obtaining it.

In response, the government opted to give citizenship offices new powers to contact public prosecutors and investigate whether crimes committed by foreigners had any racist or anti-Semitic motives.

READ ALSO: Could Germany strip citizenship rights from foreigners over anti-Semitism?

The coalition also pointed to a clause contained in the new law that is designed to exclude people who commit “racist, anti-Semitic and dehumanising acts” from naturalising as Germans. This represents a significant tightening of the law, they argued.

Alexander Throm Bundestag

CDU politician Alexander Throm gives an impassioned speech in the Bundestag during a debate on the new citizenship law. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Marco Rauch

Speaking to Spiegel on Tuesday, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) revealed that the new citizenship questions were designed with the same aim in mind.

“Our special responsibility to protect Jews and the state of Israel stems from the German crime against humanity of the Holocaust,” she said. “This responsibility is part of our identity today.”

Anyone who wants to become German must know “what this means and acknowledge Germany’s responsibility” and must make this commitment “clear and credible”.

That is why the naturalisation test is now being changed in line with the law on citizenship, Faeser explained. 

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