Speech #1000002971

I rise in support of Senate Concurrent Resolution 8. relating to the current human rights policies of the Soviet Union. I commend Senator BYRD for offering this important statement of the Senates concern. Todays resolution protesting the repression of dissidents in the Soviet Union comes at a critical time in the history of Soviet emigration policy. Soviet authorities profess that new emigration rules will allow for expeditious departures for those seeking to emigrate. In spite of Soviet public relations attempts to improve its human rights image. many organizations active in the area of Soviet Jewry believe that these regulations only narrow and tighten the departure process. I hope that they are wrong. But the Soviets will have to do much more to back up their words with actions which demonstrate that their new policy of openness is a reality. and not merely rhetoric. Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union has slowed to a trickle in recent years. Although 400.000 Soviet Jews have applied for visas to leave. the numbers granted permission to exit have fallen from over 50.000 in 1979 to totals of 896 in 1984. 1.140 in 1985. and 914 in 1986. Furthermore. the Soviet Unions unwillingness to allow individuals to emigrate safely. to remove obstacles to family reunification. and to permit its citizens the freedom of thought. conscience. or religion not only violates the declarations agreed to in the 1975 Helsinki accords. it violates the basic human rights and human dignity to which every individual is entitled. Clearly. these numbers and facts belie the Soviet promises of the past and the present. Yet. there is always a glimmer of hope. In 1982. while in exile in Gorky. Andrei Sakharov said. "I shall continue to live in the hope that goodness will finally triumph." With this brave man now out of exile. and with renewed hope that. perhaps this year. the Soviet promises of greater emigration will finally be fulfilled. we all share Sakharovs hope that every individual who seeks freedom will achieve it. The Jewish people have a prayer that is illegal to utter in the Soviet Union which fully expresses their eternal hope. "Lshanah habaah bYerushalayim" or "Next year in Jerusalem." Today. with this resolution. we collectively express our hope in concert with a people long oppressed yet forever hopeful.