In some cases. their academic or professional credentials were revoked. Some refusenik youth. waiting for years. have been conscripted upon reaching draft age. Once a person is discharged. after two or three years of army service. the authorities maintain that he possesses "military secrets." This could add an addional five year wait before the individual can reapply for an exit visa. thus delaying the familys departure for a minimum of seven or eight years. Sadly. the Soviets have made it an ordeal for refuseniks to even apply to leave. Such behavior by that Government is not in the spirit of the Helsinki accords. What we must impress upon the Soviets is that their pattern of emigration denials is not a domestic Soviet political issue but instead an international human rights issue. We must take action to ensure that the Soviets will once again adhere to the Helsinki accords. To this end. I commend the efforts of groups such as the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and the Student Coalition for Soviet Jewry which work so hard to make the plight of the Soviet refuseniks known to the world. I wish both groups success in their efforts and echo their pleas that the Soviet emigration numbers must rise. This is a challenge we must all face.*
Keywords matched
emigration visa