Nearly every European Nation. the United States and Canada joined in support of the Helsinki Final Act which sets forth principles including respect for sovereignty. inviolability of frontiers. nonuse of force. and respect for human rights. The accords also. call for cooperation in science. technology. economic issues. and the environment. Also spelled out in the accords are standards for freedom of movement of people and information. family reunification. and educational and cultural exchanges. Considering that there is no authority to enforce compliance. the Helsinki accords have been successful in helping to persuade nations to alter certain restrictive policies. However. there is one area where the accords have clearly failed. Soviet compliance with the accords. particularly improvement of human rights and emigration. has been far less than we had hoped. One issue in particular is useful as a yardstick for measuring Soviet progressemigration of Soviet Jews. From a high of 50.000 in 1979. the number of Soviet Jews allowed to leave the U.S.S.R. last year plummeted to a mere 900.
Keywords matched
family reunification emigration