The intention of this resolution is to deny renewal of most favored nation (MFN) trade status to the Socialist Republic of Romania. As you know. under section 402 of the Trade Act. MFN for Communist countries is closely alined with improvement in emigration procedures in the country in question. A number of Members in both the House and the Senate have expressed concern regarding the granting of special trade status to Romania when they are aware of difficult emigration procedures and practices in that country and of numerous cases of suffering both by individuals and families wishing to emigrate and by political and religious dissidents. A substantial improvement in emigration procedures and practices and resolution of specific cases of suffering would be welcome by myself and my colleagues as we address the issue of special trade advantages for the Communist country of Romania. President Reagan has based his request for renewal of most favored nation special trade status for Romania on assurances that the Socialist Republic of Romania "will no longer require reimbursement to the State of education costs as a precondition to emigration. and that it will not create economic or procedural barriers to emigration." Mr. Speaker. not only words and assurances. but also deeds. are necessary to convince Members of the U.S. Congress of the validity of these promises regarding economic and procedural barriers to emigration. I and many of colleagues are frankly quite skeptical of these assurances provided by the Government of Romania. Romania has been granted special MFN status for the past 8 years. and we have no evidence of any significant improvement in its emigration procedures nor indeed of its human rights practices in general over that period of time. Our concerns in this regard are supported by reports of a number of organizations reporting on emigration and human rights in Romania. For example. earlier this month. the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe reported as follows: Last year. 12.972 people emigrated from Romania to the FRO. 1.512 to Israel. and 2.463 to the United States. Figures alone. however. do not give an accurate emigration picture. Behind virtually each one of these departures were months and often years of harassment and procedural and economic obstacles apart from the "education tax." (italic added. CSCE Digest. June 8. 1983) The semiannual report by President Reagan to the Commission on Implementing the Helsinki Final Act by Romania. which covers the 6month period between December 1. 1982 and May 31. 1983 was recently released. it states flatly that " * * there has been no overall improvement in the Romanian divided family record during the 6month reporting period." and that the number of unresolved cases involving divided families has actually increased since the last report. The report also discusses "repressive policies on human rights matters" and cites "extensive harassment in Romania of religious. politica1. and cultural dissidents." active persecution of individual priests and pastors: and "the beating and harassment of ethnic Hungarian dissidents." Regarding Romanias human rights practices. the report states that: Repressive policies on human rights matters makes its position more compatible with those of the Soviet Union and some other Eastern European countries. We also have noted the report developed by staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee dated April 1983. which states that: It has been reported that often � individuals desiring to emigrate are harassed at their workplace or fired from their jobs and that their children and spouses are also harassed. Mr. Speaker. these are disturbing observations reported by highly respectable organizations. and should be considered in a most serious light by all who may be tempted to believe that after 8 years of MFN based on promises.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration emigrated