Speech #990221750

Speaker. it is sad but true that the Communist authorities in Bucharest continue to restrict and control the right of religion. free speech. free assembly and association. Although Mr. GIBBONS pointed out that 174.000 Romanians have emigrated. the Romanian Government officially opposes emigration. erects substantial barriers to emigrating and there are numerous family reunification cases that still await resolution. Moreover. large numbers of emigrants begs the question of the status and quality of life inside Romania. Having said that. Mr. Speaker. let me note with guarded optimism recent progress in solving some of the hard emigration casesprogress that I hope is not intended just to coincide with our Governments review of MFN. Just prior to the June 3 decision. Bucharest officials indicated that over 1.000 of the 1.800 pending emigration cases would be solved. Several religious prisoners have been released from jail over the last few months and are emigrating to the West. including Constantin Sfatcu. Dorel Catarama. and Emil Moranu. In March. Beni and Buni Cocar. both Baptist ministers who had been continually harassed for their faith. and then efforts to promote the Gospel of Christ were given their walking papers and are now in the United States. Of course. we all celebrated when Father Calciu. who had been imprisoned a total of 20 years. vas allowed to emigrate to the United States last summer. Clearly these developments can be construed as limited progress but many of us who are deeply committed to this cause fear that one MFN is assured for another year. the Romanians may. as the United States Helsinki Watch Committee puts it. "lapse back into its previous disregard for human rights * * *." That. Mr.