These decisions and actions can be taken unilaterally by the leaders of the Kremlin. They do not need to conduct long negotiations or reach international agreements to treat their own citizens fairly. They do not need a treaty to allow Soviet Jews to emigrate if they desire to do so. They could act unilaterally. They could. if they wanted to. make it clear to local officials to stop their discrimination and harassment against Soviet Jews. They could lower the procedural barriers to emigration for those who have concluded that the conditions of the Soviet Union are no longer tolerable. This would be a major step toward improving the climate and helping improve EastWest relations. It would not only be a tangible step. it would be a human step to help improve relations between the worlds two superpowers. We are concerned about the situation because it has deteriorated so badly in the past couple of years. In the recent past discrimination against Soviet Jewish citizens has increased and emigration has virtually been brought to a halt. It is the hope of all of us who support human rights that the declining rate of Jewish emigration in the Soviet Union be turned around. In 1979. 51.320 Soviet Jews left the U.S.S.R. However. in 1983. only 1.315 Soviet Jews were permitted to emigrate. Last month only 90 Jews left the Soviet Union with visas for Israel. Soviet officials claim that all of those who wish to leave have already done so. They continue to contend that the reunification of Soviet Jews with their families abroad has been completed. This is far from true. We must call upon the Soviet Union to open her gates to allow more Jewish emigration. While the Soviets closed their gates to emigration. they also made things much worse for those trapped within their country. There has been a new wave of Sovietstatesponsored antiSemitism. The Soviet antiZionist committee has stepped up discrimination toward Jews.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration visas