Mr. Speaker. the meeting between Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze provides a wonderful opportunity to raise the issue of human rights in the Soviet Union. The movement on behalf of Soviet Jewry is a unique struggle for emigration in the context of a tradition of 4.000 years. It is the struggle to reunite and redeem onesixth of world Jewry. the remnant of east European Jewry after the Holocaust. It fits within the tradition of the people who have returned to the land of Israel from exodus. exile. and dispersion. Since 1968. there have been approximately 644.000 requests for emigration by Soviet Jews. Understandably. only the bravest risk the perils of repeated requests. During this period of glasnost. it is imperative for the Congress to maintain its commitment to the issue of Soviet Jewry. Despite the fact that several wellknown refuseniks have recently received permission to emigrate. scores of other Jews continue to wait for permission. many of whom have suffered the anguish of family separation and religious and cultural harassment for a decade or more. While we are gratified that former prisoners of conscience and refuseniks will now be allowed to emigrate. we must remember that there still remain in the Soviet Union other former prisoners and longterm refuseniks. as well as thousands of other Jews who wish to exercise their basic human right of freedom of emigration. While it is our hope that the ShultzShervardnadze arms talks will be successful. we send a message to the Soviet leadership and the Jewish minority that our concern for human rights has not waivered and our support will remain ever strong. I urge my colleagues to continue to work together to secure human dignity and human rights throughout the world.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration