Speech #970018493

This resolution is important because of its humanitarian significance to the individual who is named in the resolution and who deserves the encouragement and support of all of us. as well as the decent consideration of the government under whose jurisdiction he happens to be. it also signifies and symbolizes the horror which is faced by all other people in the Soviet Union in the same difficulty. the thousands of refuseniks. thousands of Jews. and others who suffer religious persecution and harassment. people who have been jailed simply because they want their government to respect the international agreement which they signed at Helsinki for cooperation and security in Europe. That agreement holds out to the world a set of decent principles to guide man. fundamental of which is human dignity and independence and the right of the individual. all of which has been ignored in significant degrees by the Soviet Union. not only in the Brailovsky case. but in thousands of other cases and it still goes on. The immigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is reduced. it goes up a little bit. and then it is reduced again. They turn it on and off as a political spigot whenever It suits them without regard to the fantastic impact it has on the individuals and their families. both inside the Soviet Union and outside the Soviet Union. Those who are on the list for years and years and years suffer harassment of all kinds before they leave.