Speech #980059446

Mr. President. the most basic human right of family members scattered throughout the worldto live together sharing in the daytoday joys. sorrows. and experiences of daily lifehas been assured through the Helsinki Accords. signed by 35 nations. One of those signatories. the Soviet Union. has chosen to blatantly ignore this basic right of family reunification. The fact that the basic human rights of Soviet Jews are being denied is evidenced by the declining numbers of those permitted to emigrate over the past few years. Only 125 Soviet Jews emigrated in February 1983fewer than would have left on an average day in 1979. The implications of these denials for visas are ominous. Naum Meimann. a distinguished physicist and human rights activist. is quoted in the March 20th issue of the New York Times as saying. "The total freeze on emigration only proves that Jews are seen as a commodity." As part of the Congressional Vigil on behalf of Soviet Jewry. I wish to call attention to the plight of the following families who are but three of the thousands who have felt the pain of the Soviet Unions inhumane emigration policies. Mr. Semyon Livshits of Taylor.