Speech #990200556

Mr. Speaker. I rise to join my colleagues in the Congressional Call to Conscience Vigil for Soviet Jews and express my deep concern for the plight of prisoners of conscience and other persons who are seeking emigration and freedom from the Soviet Union. As Americans who are privileged to live in the light of great freedom. we must speak out against the darkness which exists for Soviet Jews. The persecution they face at home and the denial of their basic human rights should not be regarded solely as an internal Soviet matter. but as a legitimate concern of all people who cherish freedom. Over the past several years. we have all become increasingly aware of the grim statistics which have marked a steady decline in Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union. The expanded emigration of the late 1970s has slowed to a virtual halt. From a peak of 51.320 in 1979. the number of Jewish emigrants plunged to a mere 896 in 1984. Last year. only 1.139 people were allowed to leavejust over 3 a day in all of 1985. We can only speculate on the motivations leading the Soviet Government to shut the gates to emigration. Yet whatever their motivations. the fact remains that thousands of wouldbe emigrants have been denied their freedom to leave the country. The facts belie the claim of the Soviet authorities that the reduction of emigres is due to a diminishing number of those seeking to leave. Sources estimate that as many as 30.000 Jewish refuseniks remain in the Soviet Union. with perhaps an additional 400.000 Soviet Jews who have indicated their desire to leave by initiating the complicated process of applying for a visa. Those people who are forced to remain in the Soviet Union are feeling the effects of their Governments efforts to isolate and harass them. There are almost immediate and unfavorable consequences for the people who seek to emigrate. including economic reprisal. discrimination in access to education. physical violence. and ostracism. Furthermore. the situation for Jews in the U.S.S.R. has only continued to worsen as the effects of discrimination have mounted. Mr.