Speech #530132381

I am greatly heartened by the active demonstration of solidarity for this important cause by many Members of Congress and wish to express deep appreciation to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their participation today. The need for this call to conscience is unfortunately all too clear. It is no secret that in spite of the efforts of public officials and citizens of the United States. and in spite of the universal condemnation of the U.S.S.R.s denials of emigration rights. Soviet Jewish emigration continues to decline precipitously. In 1983. Soviet emigration dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade. Only 1.315 Jews were allowed to emigrate last year. 50 percent fewer than in 1982 and 97 percent fewer than in 1979. This downward trend has continued with just 303 Jews having been permitted to leave the U.S.S.R. in the first 5 months of this year. The right of Soviet Jews to emigrate from the U.S.S.R. is based on three international documents to which the Soviet Union is a signatory: the Universal Declaration on Human Rights of 1947. the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights of 1966. and the 1975 Helsinki Agreement. The Soviet Government. however. has largely refused to honor these international treaty obligations. According to Soviet law. each Jew applying for emigration must have an invitation (vizov) from Israel. Although more than 600.000 vizovs have been sent to Soviet Jews who have expressed a desire to emigrate since 1968. less than half of that number have actually received permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union. While the plight of prominent refuseniks such as Ida Nudel. Anatoly Shcharansky. Dr. Alexandre Lerner. and Yuri Federov and others have received worldwide recognition for their courageous opposition to Soviet repression. the hundreds of thousands of other refuseniks awaiting exit visas are no less courageous for their persistent. although less publicized. efforts to emigrate. I would like to take this opportunity to bring the attention of my colleagues to one such case. I recently received a letter from Georges Ullmann of Great Neck.