President. I am pleased to join in the Congressional Call to Conscience for Soviet Jewry. This week marks the 10th Anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Final Act. which held promise for an increased flow of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union. That promise has faded. and the Soviet reign of oppression against their Jewish citizens continues. In 1979. a high of 51.320 Jews were allowed to leave the Soviet Union. Last year. an alltime low of only 869 Soviet Jews were granted exit visas. In June 1983. the official Soviet AntiZionist Committee announced that Jewish emigration was essentially completed. However. at least 10.000 dissidents continue actively to seek emigration. Meanwhile. the repression against Soviet Jews continues to worsen. More than twenty Jewish prisoners of conscience are being held by the government.
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emigration visas