The tragic plight of the Jewish refusenik community in the Soviet Union and that countrys complete disregard for fundamental freedoms make a mockery of human dignity. justice. and religious expression. Until the Soviet Governmezit respects the spirit of human rights for Soviet Jews. our denouncement of this tyranny must never cease. In 1975. when the Soviet Government signed the Helsinki accords. there was hope that the process allowing Soviet Jews to emigrate would be accelerated. Unfortunately. Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union has steadily declined in recent years. from 51.320 in 1979. to 1.314 in 1983. The Soviet authorities claim that all those wishing to leave the country have already done so. But at least 50.000 refuseniks. with the knowledge that newly enacted laws may result in their dismissal from jobs or even imprisonment for doing so. have recently applied for exit visas. The tragic but widely reported cases of Andrei Sakharow. Lev Elbert. Ida Nudel. and Anatoly Shcharansky. who today has just completed his eighth year of a 13year prison sentence for expressing his views and wishing to emigrate to Israel. are representative of the Soviet treatment of hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews. Harassment. persecution. and oppression must be coped with daily by the Soviet Jews. Hebrew classes have been banned.
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emigrate emigration visas