The Soviet Union is a signatore of the Helsinki accords. As such. the Soviet Government has explicitly pledged to uphold the freedom of religion for its citizens. It has also agreed to handle family reunifications in a positive and humanitarian manner. Obviously the Soviet regime has not given any of its citizens these freedoms. It has. however. singled out Soviet Jews for particularly harsh treatment. In 1984. only 896 Soviet Jews were allowed to leave. compared to 51.320 In 1979. In 1985. this number rose slightly. as 1.140 Jews were permitted to emigrate. There are. however. an estimated 350.000 Jews still in the Soviet Union who have indicated their desire to emigrate. The Soviet regimes contention that all who derire to leave have done so is blatantly false. We continually hear of the plight of those who initially applied for exit visas years ago. yet have been repeatedly denied the right to leave. After making their initial visa applications. Soviet Jews are subject to all types of persecution. They lose their jobs. are denied entrance to universities. and have their mail confiscated and their homes searched.
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family reunifications visas visa emigrate