DW-WORLD.DE spoke with Pastor Kuno Hauck, a member of the Coalition Against Impunity human rights group. The organization is campaigning for the soccer world to view human rights is an issue that it should acknowledge and take action to uphold.

DW-WORLD.DE: What is the coalition's campaign about?

Kuno Hauck: Human rights issues affect every level of civil and political life, and sports is a part of that. It was an issue 30 years ago, in 1978, and the question was: could Germany send its national soccer team to Argentina, where people were being tortured and murdered? Amnesty International started the campaign back then: "Soccer, yes; torture, no." It was clear that during and after the World Cup, the German Football Association (DFB) and even parliamentarians were addressing human rights issues in soccer in a rather naive fashion. The approach was more like: "Soccer and human rights have nothing to do with each other; let the athletes play their game and let the human rights activists deal with their issues."

We've begun a petition campaign and are demanding that the DFB develop a code of ethics for major sports events and that it apologize for what happened in the past. But they've just refused. In other words, they said they wouldn't sit down with us to discuss things and that they reject our campaign.

Should the German team not have played in Argentina in 1978? Should it not go to countries to places where human rights are violated now?

The DFB should develop a very clear code of ethics. There could be countries where we say, "No, we're not going there." One has to define certain conditions or prerequisites for a trip. People should be able to express their ideas about civil rights; freedom of expression about concerns should not be forbidden. One has to wonder what will happen in three years in Peking when the German Olympic team travels there. People know that human rights are not at the top of the priority list in China, that human rights are abused there. Are we supposed to go there and just ignore all of that?

That's the central issue. We're not saying a team or our national team shouldn't go to a particular country. We're just asking the DFB to define the conditions there must be for the team to go, and to ask: "under what conditions would we not go there?"

Should the teams from countries where human rights are violated not be invited to the World Cup in Germany this summer?

All teams should be allowed to play and should be invited, but issues like human rights in their country should be addressed during the matches.

This summer the Iran team will come to play in Nuremberg. We wonder how we should deal with the country. Should we be open to them or boycott them? We should go to the game, but we should also be able to discuss human rights issues that pertain to Iran.

How did athletes react back in 1978 and how do they react now to your coalition's demands?

Back in 1978, there were some players who expressed criticism toward Argentina. There were others who just said: "What's happening in Argentina doesn't concern me. I just want to play soccer." But we think that's naive. You can't just say: "Sports is sports, politics is politics." It's very unrealistic to believe that when a national team plays somewhere, spectators don't connect the politics of their home country and everything else that happens there with the players.