I am pleased to join the Congressional Call to Conscience vigil for Soviet Jews. As we speak today on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of innocent Jews suffering in the Soviet Union. we must remember that they are denied not only this basic freedom to speak on behalf of themselves. but also the many other freedoms we have come to accept and take for granted by virtue of our American birthright. The Soviet Union tells us that it is slowly loosening its emigration policies. The facts of the matter prove otherwise: The Soviet Union is in direct violation of the Helsinki accords. emigration for Soviet citizens is at a record low. and human rights as we know them do not now exist in the Soviet Union. Further. within the last 6 years. emigration has dropped from nearly 50.000 to 1.140 with the majority of Jews resigned to the limbo of applicant status. We must not allow ourselves to be appeased by token measures such as the release of Anatoly Shcharansky. We must see Mr. Shcharanskys release for what it isa conciliatory gesture and not the precedent for future emigration that the Kremlin leadership would like us to believe. My colleagues who have participated in the Call to Conscience Program have provided us with individual cases of families attempting to emigrate from Russia. While this provides insight into numerous atrocities performed against the refuseniks living in Russia. the grim truth is that for every family we recognize. there are thousands of families residing there who are equally suffering. I would like to cite just a few instances of this inhumane treatment.
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emigrate emigration