German Travelers Urged to Pester ‘People in Authority’ Abroad About Human Rights

Germans, as many travelers will attest, are everywhere. With their mandated multiple-week vacations and desire to see the world while sometimes wearing dark socks and open-toed footwear, they are among the world’s most avid travelers. And, according to the German government, that helps make them excellent candidates to “pester staff in ­foreign airports and hotels about human rights concerns.” German foreign ministry’s human rights envoy Günter Nooke said so this week, according to a Financial Times story by Hugh Williamson. Nooke had a lot of ideas for the estimated 44 million Germans who travel abroad each year.

From Williamson’s story:

He called for package holidays to be expanded beyond sightseeing and cultural highlights to include meetings with human-rights activists. Airlines could also play their part.

“Why don’t in-flight magazines include profiles of human-rights activists, alongside the usual glossy articles?” he asked at a press conference in Berlin.

Compared with most other countries, Germans spend more time and money on holidays, he said, and emphasised that spoiling the tourists’ fun was not his intention. Nor did he want to encourage boycotts of destinations such as Myanmar or North Korea. Rather, tourists should be more aware of their own economic and political power.

“Too many travellers are uncritical, or have a false solidarity with the governments of the countries they visit,” he said, arguing that visitors should talk to “people in authority” at airports, museums or hotels in ­countries where abuses of women’s or children’s rights occur or where the death penalty is practised.

“The more tourists demand information on these issues, also from their travel companies, the more such information will be supplied,” he said, suggesting that governments in travel destinations might also react if rich tourists became more critical.

Nooke suggested, among other things, Germans could engage Turks about limits on press freedoms in Turkey and ask Egyptians why their government is using emergency powers.

Williamson reports that an Amnesty International representative was “thrilled” by Nooke’s words.

They sound arrogant to me. Browbeating your hosts is probably not the best way to engender good will and get a message across.

Not to mention, as Foreign Policy’s Passport blog points out, such actions by German tourists could be dangerous. “Think about it: How would the staff at JFK airport or the Waldorf Astoria react to being browbeaten about Iraq or Guantánamo?”  Prerna Mankad writes. “They’d probably become about as welcoming as Yankee Stadium on the night the Red Sox are in town.”

What’s that like? This video clip will give you a bit of an idea. Be warned. The language ain’t pretty.

 

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