Citizens who have tried to leave after being refused permission. have been imprisoned and. in some cases. confined in psychiatric clinics. according to some reports. Clearly. this whole process is designed to discourage any expression of a desire to leave. Throughout the lengthy process. prospective emigrants are generally subjected to personal threats. possible loss of job and family. and numerous methods of harassment. Today. Romanias twisted emigration policy continues to violate not only the terms under which Romania was first granted MFN status. but agreements reached at Helsinki as well. While Romanian emigration to the United States has risen since MFN status was granted. emigration to Israel has plummeted. During the first 10 months of fiscal year 1979. arrivals in Israel dropped 30 percent from 1978 figures. Similarly. the 1978 and 1977 fiscal years were also characterized by such a decline. Prior to the granting of MFN status in 1975. more than 4.000 Romanian Jews were permitted to emigrate. Thus far this year. only 251 Romanian Jews have been allowed to leave. Thus. the number of Romanians actually arriving in Israel since 1974 has. in fact. declined since MFN treatment toward Romania was initiated. Contrary to explanations issued by the Romanian Government. reports indicate this sudden drop does not represent a change in attitude among Romanian Jews. Clearly. this trend directly contradicts Romanias pledge to implement a policy of free emigration as outlined in the JacksonVanik amendment. Furthermore. this trend suggests that waiving the JacksonVanik amendment has. in this case. done little to encourage free emigration. Another issue I find to be inconsistent with the intent of the JacksonVanik amendment involves national minorities in Romania. Reports indicate the ruling regime is attempting to systematically eliminate all facets of Romanias Hungarian culture.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration emigrants