A/HRC/4/21/Add.1 page 38 Germany Urgent appeal sent on 21 February 2006 jointly with the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants 152. The Special Rapporteurs brought to the attention of the Government information they had received relating to a questionnaire introduced in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The questionnaire is to be answered by citizens of the 57 member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) who apply for German citizenship. According to the information received, on 1 January 2006, the Ministry of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg introduced a questionnaire directed principally at Muslims who want to obtain German citizenship. They are required to fill out a 30-question questionnaire, concerning a number of issues including attitudes to equality between men and women, homosexuality and freedom of religion. 153. The Special Rapporteurs were concerned that an obligation imposed only on the citizens of the 57 OIC member states could be discriminatory, especially considering the large Turkish community living in Germany. It was further reported that under the new legislation, those who pass the test can have their citizenship revoked if they are found guilty of acting in conflict with their responses to the questions. Response form the Government sent on 28 March 2006 154. The following information was provided by the Government regarding the questionnaire introduced in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The naturalization of foreigners in Germany is carried out by the Länder as their own affair, as the Nationality Act (effective from 1 January 2006) provides. One requirement of that Act is that persons who wish to become naturalized citizens must declare their allegiance to the principles of freedom and democracy enshrined in the Basic Law and that they are not and have not ever engaged in activities opposed to these principles or to the existence or security of the state. 155. The Interior Ministry of Baden-Württemberg adopted a so-called “guide for conducting interviews” to examine applicants’ compliance with this requirement. The naturalization authorities are supposed to use this guide only in case of doubt of an individual applicant’s allegiance to the constitutional principles of freedom and democracy. There is no intent to make applicants answer all 30 questions provided in the mentioned guide. The authorities are free to choose the questions. 156. The Interior Ministry clarified in a decree of 17 January 2006 that the questions from the interview guide were not intended only for use with Muslim applicants, but were to be used with all applicants for naturalization in case of doubts regarding their allegiance to the constitutional principles of freedom and democracy. Muslim applicants are, therefore, not treated differently from other applicants. The Ministry also stated that the naturalization authorities as a rule were not aware of the religious affiliation of applicants, due to the fact that the application form did not ask for this information. As a result, it would be impossible to target Muslim applicants for questioning. Although 60% of naturalized immigrants in Baden-Württemberg came from the OIC nations, in the majority of the cases, the authorities had no doubts about their allegiance to the freedom and democracy principles and did not ask them the questions using the interview