They were shipped away from their families to remote work areas and are forced to work in brutal climatic conditions under the watchful eyes of KGB guards. Many of these laborers are being punished because they asked only that their country obey its own laws. Some are imprisoned in those harsh and lonely camps because they distributed leaflets. or tried to legally emigrate from the Soviet Union. Many prisoners were speaking out about violations of human rights. or merely trying to practice their religion in a country which claims to respect human rights. The existing forced labor program in the U.S.S.R. is in obvious contravention of the United Nations Charter as well as international law agreements. including the Helsinki accords.
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emigrate