Mr. President. with the conclusion of the Geneva summit. it is imperative that we not forget the plight of Soviet Jewry. While the recent decision to grant exit visas to several Soviet citizens who have spouses living in the United States is a positive development. the Soviet Government is showing no signs of flexibility on the issue of Jewish emigration. General Secretary Gorbachev has been recently quoted as saying that problems for Jews In the Soviet Union simply "do not exist." The facts strongly indicate otherwise. Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union has fallen sharply from a high of 51.320 in 1979 to a low of 896 in 1984a decrease of nearly 98 percent during the past 5 years. Freedom of emigration is a basic human right guaranteed by a number of internationally accepted documents such as the Helsinki Final Act. Clearly. the Soviets are not living up to these agreements. The case of Lev Blitshtein is an example of Soviet intransigence. Mr. Blitshtein first applied to emigrate from the Soviet Union in June 1974. He was turned down In January 1975. and subsequently lost his job as a foreman at a meat processing plant in Moscow. Since then. he has repeatedly applied for an exit visa. but without success. No specific reason has been given for his denial. Mr.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration visas visa