BERLIN
Children of immigrants born in Germany will be eligible to apply for dual citizenship if a proposed draft law is approved by the Federal Parliament.
The German Cabinet on Tuesday accepted the draft law. Under the current system children of immigrants have to decide whether to quit their original nationality in order to get German citizenship.
The new draft will allow young people to have dual citizenship if they were born in Germany and lived here for at least eight years or attended school for six years until their 21st birthday.
The current system primarily affects Turks living in Germany. There are more than two million people of Turkish origin residing in Germany.
Germany bans charity for 'Hezbollah links'
Germany has banned a Lebanese charity organization for having alleged links to Hezbollah and supporting attacks against Israel.
“Organizations that act against Israel’s right to exist, directly or indirectly from German territories cannot rely on the freedom of association,” said Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere in a written statement on Tuesday.
“Therefore today I have decided to ban the charity Orphaned Children Project – Lebanon, with immediate effect.”
Founded in 1997 in Germany, the charity had focused on supporting child victims of the war in Lebanon and so far offered support for 1,800 orphaned children, according to its website.
But Germany’s Interior Ministry said in a written statement on Tuesday that the charity had provided millions of euros to Hezbollah-linked Shahid Foundation and supported acts against Israel’s right to exist.
The Ministry accused Hezbollah and Shahid Foundation for recruiting militants and suicide bombers under the cover of humanitarian activities such as support for orphaned children.
German police raided early Tuesday more than a dozen locations in six states and searched offices of the children’s charity. The police seized various documents and unspecified amount of money, but no arrests were made, according to Interior Ministry sources.
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