It doesn’t take long for the tone to be set in the Human Rights Committee. “How can it be that the sponsor of the Women’s World Cup is Saudi Arabia? Apparently the paper is totally patient again. Is there a red line for a DFB somewhere?” This is what the CDU politician Norbert Altenkamp asks.
In front of him, in the middle of the parliamentarians, is DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. Neuendorf does not have a direct answer. He asked FIFA whether the media reports were correct that the Saudi tourism authority’s commercials should run during the World Cup in the summer.
“I want to know exactly: what happened there? Is there a commitment? If there is a commitment, is it subject to conditions, that conditions have been attached in some way here in terms of human rights? I can’t answer all of that at the moment , because we are waiting for FIFA’s response.”
DFB as a petitioner to FIFA – also on human rights issues
The DFB as a petitioner, which is set by the World Football Association to withdraw information: Neuendorf’s statement shows how bad the relationship between the DFB and FIFA is at the moment. And it shows a fundamental dilemma: Even if German sports associations like the DFB want to consider human rights issues in their decisions in the future – in the international sports system this approach can hardly win a majority.
“As Western Europeans we are often in the minority, to put it bluntly. I can and I will try, I guarantee you that we will make small steps forward. But the idea of implementing maximum demands immediately she’s just unworldly.” That’s why he wants to look for allies, according to Neuendorf.
Maximilian Klein is also calling for progressive alliances, initiated by German sports associations. Klein is Director of Sports Policy and Strategy at the independent athletes’ association Athleten Deutschland. He sits two hours before Neuendorf in the human rights committee, together with DOSB President Thomas Weikert. And Klein recognizes that German associations are in a difficult position internationally.
“It is really very, very difficult to exert influence in the international sports system. Mr. Weikert, as the former World Association President, knows that very, very well. And of course we also understand that it is extremely difficult for the DOSB alone. You can do that too don’t have too high expectations.”
DOSB is committed to due diligence – after criticism from athletes Germany
A year ago, Klein criticized the Human Rights Committee that the DOSB had no human rights strategy. But something has happened since then: The DOSB has committed itself to human rights due diligence in its statutes. There is now a round table on human rights and a human rights advisory board. After a previous analysis, this advisory board should develop a human rights policy for the umbrella organization so that the DOSB can position itself more clearly and better in the future.
It is also an attempt to catch up on what has been missed in recent years – also because there was no pressure from politics for a long time. “We didn’t pay enough attention to the issue in the past, you have to say it like that,” says Peter Heidt, human rights spokesman for the FDP.
That has also changed in the meantime. The statements of the parliamentarians show that at least in the Human Rights Committee there is a cross-party majority in favor of withdrawing tax money from associations if they disregard human rights risks.
Withdrawal of funding as a threat to associations
“We’re not saying that we want to take tax money away from the associations overnight, so to speak. But we say: That’s tax money that we’re giving away here, and we have to apply criteria to it. So for us it’s about that the associations are moving in the right direction: include human rights in their statutes, live human rights and then everything will be fine. And if they persistently refuse and say: ‘We are not interested in any of this’ – then we can do them too give no more tax money.”
Even DOSB President Thomas Weikert is open to the idea. “Overall, I think that’s a possibility that should be addressed, because we’ve had a lot of problems in the international arena in the past.”
What the criteria look like and when they could come is still unclear. Despite the fundamental consensus, there is potential for conflict here. Maximilian Klein from Athletes Germany even goes one step further. He brings up the idea of creating an integrity authority for German sport, an agency responsible for everything from corruption to sexualised violence.
Klein: “Sport as part of German foreign policy”
In this way, Germany could become an international role model. And that’s not all: Sport must also become part of German foreign policy, Klein demands: “It is important that Germany also addresses the international sports system in its foreign policy in order to exert pressure to change the situation in the international sports system. Because the international sports system has no opponent, that’s why it’s so sluggish and why so little changes.”
Perhaps that would also make an impression on Thomas Bach. The committee would also like to interview the IOC President. But Bach has so far ignored the invitations.