Over the past several years. the plight of Soviet Jews has come to the front of national and international human rights debates. Last spring. this House unanimously passed a resolution I authored calling on the Soviet Union to release a Soviet refusenik. Anatoly Shcharansky. and allow him to emigrate to Israel. Just last month. on Shcharanskys 36th birthday. over 80 Members signed a proclamation reinforcing the message of the resolution. the proclamation was sent to Shcharansky and the leaders of the Soviet Union. Anatoly Shcharansky was arrested and imprisoned for daring to practice his faith and encourage others to do the same. He has been in prison for almost 7 years. and his mother says he is too ill to survive the brutality of that environment for the remainder of his sentence. Anatoly Shcharansky has come to represent more than 350.000 Jews in the Soviet Union who are waiting for a chance to emigrate. Some continue patiently with their lives while they wait for their application to be ruled upon. Some. particularly those like Shcharansky who speak out for the rights of Jews in the Soviet Union. have been arrested and jailed under harsh conditions for extended periods of time. Fewer and fewer Soviet Jews receive permission to leave. In 1983. only 1.314 were allowed to emigrate. an appalling drop from 51.320 in 1979. For those who must remain. religious persecution has become a fact of life. Jews are subjected to slander in thepress. repression in the classroom. and harassment by their fellow countrymen.
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emigrate