Speech #990019756

We do not make agreements to break them. we fulfill them from beginning to end." Politiburo Member Shcherbitsky. when he and his Soviet colleagues met with us in Washington last month. echoed a similar theme. He said. "In the Soviet Union we consistently observe all conventions and agreements. specifically Helsinki." Against this backdrop. one must consider the reality of human rights abuses in the Soviet Union. abuses suffered not only by Jews. but by Christians and other minority groups. Concerning emigration and the case of Soviet Jews. the situation is particularly grave: The number permitted to emigrate has dropped precipitouslyfrom 51.000 in 1979. down to 900 in 1984while the Soviets engage in a systematic campaign of harassment of those seeking to emigrate. Indeed. emigration has risen and fallen from 1971 to 1984. for example 34.700 in 1973 to 16.736 in 1977 to 51.000 as I indicated in 1980. Such movement can be chartered over the early years of detente. the JacksonVanik amendment on trade. the grain embargo. U.S. boycott of the Olympics. the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. and the KAL shoot down. We can only speculate about the relationship between these events and rates of emigration. An.- request to emigrate today leads to loss of Job. harassment. charges of parasitism. and imprisonment. Estimates place at close to 400.000 those Soviet Jews who have begun the emigration process and are now trapped in limbo. Of this number some 20.000 have been formally refused. Mr. Speaker. we must not hesitate to continue to point out violations of the Helsinki agreement by the Soviet Union and any other nations which trample on human rights. We must continue to shed light on the terrible plight of those who can now only dream about the most basic of freedoms for themselves and for their families. I have seen that dream in the eyes of those refused the right to emigrate. of those who suffer arbitrary harassment. and of those whose children are beaten in schools because their families adhere to certain religious beliefs. I believe that this measure will help to bring needed visibility to the Helsinki process and the basic freedoms and rights it is struggling to secure for millions who are denied these rights. Accordingly.