Speech #1000019809

I believe that such agreements serve to act as a disincentive for the Soviets to seriously address human rights issues. That this is the case I think we need to look no further than the ABA Steering Committee report to the house of delegates at their midyear meeting last month. They reported under a heading. "What Has Been Accomplished." that this agreement with the Soviets has resulted in announced regulations dealing with the immigration process. What they do not state is that this new Soviet immigration law has been roundly condemned by human rights groups. The Union of Councils for Soviet Jews states. and I am quoting. "Far from liberalizing and speeding up the process of immigration. the new decree ensnarls hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews in a bureaucratic maze of red tape. delays and puts their faith totally at the mercy of the Soviet Immigration Office." The level of mercy shown by Soviet immigration officials is best evidenced by the number of Jews allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union in the last several years from a high of 51.000plus in 1979 to a pitiful 914 last year. The ABA report highlights the release of prominent Soviet dissidents. What needs to be highlighted is the fact that there are 400.000 Soviet Jews who have taken steps to immigrate and have not yet received permission. Let there be no doubt about the state of the refusnick: No job. no help. just isolation and repression. Finally. the ABA concludes their report by seemingly apologizing for Soviet behavior by stating that "While the United States is over 200 years old. the Soviet Union is only 65 years old.