Speech #970166908

Speaker. I rise to take this opportunity to join my colleague from Connecticut in introducing House Concurrent Resolution 336. expressing the sense of the Congress concerning the noncompliance by the Soviet Union of their international agreements on human rights. There are currently 500.000 Jews in the Soviet Union who have applied for exit visas and are trapped in a country which they can neither leave nor live in freely. In 1981. only 9.447 Jews were permitted to emigrate from the Soviet Union. representing a decline in emigration of 82 percent since 1979. when 51.320 Jews were permitted to emigrate. Only 289 Soviet Jews were allowed to emigrate in March 1982. The total for the first 3 months of 1982 is 862. compared with 11.977 in 1979. 8.875 in 1980. and 3.506 in 1981. If emigration continues at its present pace. fewer than 3.500 of the 500.000 Jews who are waiting will be allowed to emigrate this year. The quality of life for Soviet Jews. as well as for others who have sought unsuccessfully to emigrate from the Soviet Union. has declined substantially. Soviet authorities continue to persecute these citizens with verbal harassment. arrests. and imprisonment. Mr. Speaker. when the Soviet Union agreed to participate in the conferences which led to the signing of the Helsinki accords. it gave both verbal and written acknowledgement of its promise to end religious persecution. and to allow its citizens to emigrate freely. Resolution 336 which we have now introduced calls upon the Soviet Union to honor this commitment. to fulfill its promise. House Concurrent Resolution 336 calls upon the Soviet Union to comply with the Helsinki Final Act. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. the International Declaration of Human Rights. the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. and other international agreements relating to human rights. by pursuing a more humane emigration policy and ceasing harassment of Jews and others seeking to emigrate. We believe that the Soviet Unions compliance with internationally recognized emigration rights would significantly promote improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Accordingly. our resolution asks the President to convey our concerns to the Soviet officials at every opportunity. including those occasions when our nations are involved in negotiations relating to trade and commerce and to science and technology exchange. I have joined my colleagues on many occasions in our joint efforts to improve the human rights situation in the Soviet Union.