Last May. our former Ambassador to Romania. David Funderburk. revealed the Romanians latest dodge around the provisions of the JacksonVanik amendment. The Romanian Government has allowed our Embassy to be swamped with emigration applications. At first. we applauded. But later we learned that Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu was merely trying to dispose of undesirable Romanian citizens unqualified for U.S. citizenship. much as Fidel Castro did with Cuban criminals in 1980. This is the type of negotiating strategy weve come to expect from the Romanian Government. In addition to this gross violation of JacksonVanik we find that those citizens which are given emigration passports by the Romanian Government are termed traitors to their country and consequently are evicted from their homes. fired from their Jobs. and denied food ration cards. Last April. Romanias leading dissident poet. Dorin Tudoran. began a hunger strike to protest his inability to obtain a passport from his government to emigrate. Shortly after he began his hunger strike. the Romanian Government cut off all written and telephone communication between him and the outside world. He was then apprehended by the government. No traces of him have been found since that time. The late Senator Jacksons concern with free emigration reflected his deep commitment to the protection of all human rights. and the spirit of the JacksonVanik amendment speaks to the entire range of human rights issues. The most cursory examination of the abysmal Romanian record on human rights would reveal just how undeserving Romania is of MFN status. The Romanian Government persists in its systematic persecution of the religious community.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration