They look to the signatory states to enforce its noble provisions and not only for Soviet Jews but for the persecuted Christians and courageous dissidents like Sakharov and others. But the Soviet Union has disregarded their promises at Helsinki. refusing application after application submitted by individuals seeking to leave in order to be free to practice their religion. to pursue their art. or simply to live their lives. Even truly hardship cases. where families and married couples have been separated. are languishing after years of efforts to obtain visas to emigrate. One of the most tragic cases is that of Anatoly Shcharansky. imprisoned on the false charge of spying. Perhaps better than anyone. his courageous wife Avital knows the vast gulf between words and action. She warns us that too easy an acceptance of Soviet assurances at Madrid can be a source of danger. "If the U.S.S.R. sees that the West is willing to reach agreements without requiring actual and concrete concessions. the Soviets will feel still more free to suppress human rights. The result will be not to protect human rights but to destroy them." Soviet sincerity at Madrid will be tested in the days to come. as the West waits to see improvements in emigration. a lessening of internal oppression. the end of governmentdirected antiSemitism. and the release of political prisoners whose only crime has been to assert their inalienable freedom of thought. As our great Ambassador to Madrid. Max Kampelman warned in his closing address at the conference. the West "cannot lull our publics into believing that words alone are adequate to erase the pressing threats to the integrity of the Helsinki and Madrid principles".
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emigrate emigration visas