Speech #990206779

Mr. President. for a decade. the Congressional Call to Conscience Program has actively sought to focus national attention on Soviet citizens who are neither free to practice their own religion nor free to emigrate. These fundamental rights are taken for granted by many Americans. but we must not lose sight of the fact that these basic rights are not yet universal rights. As a result. I am both pleased and proud to Join the fight to end religious persecution and suffering in the Soviet Union by participating in the 1986 congressional call to conscience. Since 1979 when Soviet emigrants numbered over 50.000. there has been a sharp decline in the number of individuals allowed to leave the U.S.S.R. Barely 1.000 received permission in 1985. Instead of freedom. applicants for emigration are awarded jail sentences. physically beaten. or publicly denounced. Moreover. refuseniks have lost their Jobs. been expelled from schools. and been forcibly isolated from society. In short. declaring ones desire to emigrate from the Soviet Union jeopardizes ones rights as a citizen and a human being. The plight of the Finermans. a Soviet Jewish family. is a case in point. Miron and Iosef Finerman first applied for visas 7 years ago and have been refused ever since. The Governments explanation is that their invitation to live abroad "did not come from a sufficiently close relative." The fact that the Finermans already have an aunt and grandmother iii Israel seems somehow irrelevant to the Soviets. Meanwhile. the Finermans must remain religious captives. unable to pursue their beliefs or their cultural heritage.