If the Soviet Union is not living up to these principles. then it is up to all countries to protest. Soviet officials told us that their record on human rights was very good. better than that of most countries. Citing reduced waiting time for visas and Increased visits of religious delegations as examples of improvement there. officials claimed that my colleagues and I had unreliable facts about life in the Soviet Union and complained that we were spending too much time on irrelevant subjects. Our delegation strongly protested this attitude of Soviet officials and presented a strong united front on the issue of human rights to Soviet officials. We had a number of opportunities to express our shared beliefs that every human being in every nation has the universal right to practice his or her religion free of harassment by others or restriction by their government and to reaffirm the right of every human being to free emigration. especially if they are Joining family members in other countries. In our meeting with Vasiliiy Kuznetsov. candidate member of the Politburo and First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Soviet. we discussed the issue of human rights frankly. We met twice in plenary session with representatives of the Supreme Soviet. including Vitaliv Rubin.
Keywords matched
emigration visas