Any actual changes in the direction of liberalization sought by the dissidents and hoped for by many Westerners can only come about through continued pressure by those of us outside the Soviet Union. It must be made clear to the Kremlin leadership that evidence of detente at home is a necessary correlative to further expansion of concessionary detente with the United States. Quite legitimate questions have been raised that by relating the granting of mostfavorednation status to free emigration from the Soviet Union and the recognition of civil rights of Soviet citizens. we interfere in essentially internal political affairs of another country. It must be noted. however. that the demand for free emigration and civil rights from the Soviet Union does not simply reflect the imposition of Western political ideals upon them. Instead we are only demanding that they themselves adhere to numerous agreements made by them over the years. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. ratified by the U.S.S.R.. guarantees the right to leave any country. including ones own. and to return to his country. Both the emigration and numerous internal repressive policies indicated in my earlier comments blatantly contravene the Universal Declaration of Human Rights sponsored by the United Nations which the Soviet Union also publicly supports. And. reflecting an almost grotesque cynicism. just this past month the Soviets announced their ratification of two additional United Nations Conventions on the rights of man which assert basic freedoms. including the rights of expression and emigration. Even more important than our concern with the Soviet Union adhering to these international agreements is the relationship of internal changes with the policy of detente. For this policy to have meaning some concrete evidence must exist of a relaxation of repression in the Soviet Union. As Andrei Sakharov himself has stated in a public letter to Senator JACKSON last month: The Jackson amendment is made even more significant by the fact that the world is only just entering on a new course of detente. And it is therefore essential that the proper direction be followed from the outset. This is a fundamental issue. extending far beyond any the question of emigration.... In an article in this months issue of the New Leader. Hans J.
Keywords matched
emigration