Germans holidaying abroad this summer are being called on to “look beyond the palm trees” and pester staff in ­foreign airports and hotels about human rights concerns, the Berlin foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Launching an unusual appeal to the 44m Germans who travel overseas every year, Günter Nooke, a close ally of Angela Merkel, the chancellor, and the foreign ministry’s human rights envoy, said, “human rights were being trampled under foot” in top destinations such as Turkey, Egypt and Thailand.