Speech #530132414

I am also participating on behalf of Evgeny Yakir. a Soviet Jew. Soviet Jews in general and Jewish refuseniks in particular are being victimized by the current deterioration in relations between the Soviet Union and the West. and it is our duty to call upon the Soviet Government to end this injustice. Millions of Soviet Jews are being denied the right to emigrate from the Soviet Union by the Soviet Government. Those within the Soviet Union who choose to protest the policy are often imprisoned or exiled internally. This is so. even though the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate from to which the Soviet Union is based on three international documents the Soviets have committed themselves: the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights. and the Helsinki Agreement of 1975. Since 1979. when 51.320 Jews were allowed to emigrate. there has been a 98percent decline in Jewish emigration. In 1983. only 1.314 Soviet Jews were given permission to emigrate. The downward trend has continued in 1984 under the reign of SecretaryGeneral Chernenko with monthly Jewish emigration totals of 88 in January. 90 in February. 51 in March. and 74 in April. As a participant in this vigil. I urge the Soviet authorities to adopt a more flexible policy on emigration and to abide by the basic international standard of human rights spelled out in the international documents to which they are a party.