I wish today to participate in the 1986 Congressional Call to Conscience to concentrate upon the desperate plight of Soviet Jewry. The world watched as the Soviets finally delivered Anatoly Shcharansky to freedom in the West. But for every Shcharansky. there are thousands of lesser known refuseniks and prisoners of conscience waiting for their day to emigrate. If history is any guide. that day will not come soon enough. In 1979. Soviet authorities released over 50.000 Jewsmore than ever before or since. It appeared as if the Soviet Union was executing its duties under the Helsinki accords of 1975 and finally recognizing the human rights of those who chose to emigrate. A series of international events. however. demonstrated to the world that the Soviets still consider the refuseniks a political issue and fail to see their own intransigence as a human rights abuser. Since 1979. emigration of Soviet Jews has dropped dramatically. In 1984. only 896 people were allowed to leave. Last year. 1.140 were permitted to emigrate but this figure is still a mere 2 percent of the 1979 total. The numbers themselves are alarming. But to truly understand their suffering. one must study the details.
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