Speech #920206696

Speaker. expresses in clear and brief language our commitment to human dignity and religious freedom and our absolute refusal to tolerate that kind of religious persecution which has already cast a grotesque scar on the history of our time. The operative language of this resolution is as follows: Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring). That it is the sense of Congress that the President of the United States of America shall take immediate and determined steps to(1) call upon the Soviet Government to permit the free expression of ideas and the exercise of religion by all its citizens in accordance with the Soviet Constitution. and (2) utilize formal and informal contacts with Soviet officials in an effort to secure an end to discrimination against religious minorities. and (3) request of the Soviet Government that it permit its citizens the right to emigrate from the Soviet Union to the countries of their choice as affirmed by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. and (4) raise in the General Assembly of the United Nations the issue of the Soviet Unions transgression of the Declaration of Human Rights. particularly against Soviet Jews and other minorities. Mr. Speaker.