Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of House Joint Resolution 373 regarding the rights of Soviet citizens to practice their religion and to emigrate. Once again. we must continue to press the Soviet authorities to refrain from harassing Soviet citizens for seeking to practice one of the basic human rightsfreedom to worship according to your own beliefs in your chosen religion. But this right. which we take for granted in our country. is not enjoyed by millions of persons throughout the Earth. with the Soviet Union being a major violator of this right. The right to emigrate is also a basic right of all human beings and one which allows you to leave a country that does not protect its own citizens. Every person has a right not to feel a prisoner in his or her own country. Unfortunately for thousands of Jewish persons in the Soviet Union. they are harassed for requesting a visa to emigrate out of the Soviet Union and. in most instances. forbidden from leaving the country. I join with our colleagues in calling upon the President to instruct the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission to address this issue at the current session in Geneva.*
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emigrate visa