Moreover. there is no indication that the Soviet Government shares the principles of civilized conduct and basic respect for human dignity and the rights of the individual which are the foundation of the final act. This resolution addresses one specific area covered by the final act. an area which has been marked by particularly egregious conduct on the part of the Soviet Union. The final act states that "The participating states will deal in a positive and humanitarian spirit with the applications of persons who wish to be reunited with members of their family. with special attention being given to requests of an urgent charactersuch as requests submitted by persons who are ill or old." The final act further states that "In dealing with requests from couples from different participating states. once married. to enable them and the minor children of their marriage to transfer their permanent residence to a state in which either one is normally a resident. the participating states will also apply the provisions accepted for family reunification." In fact. the Soviet Union has not been in compliance with those provisions. Over the years. there has been a trickle of resolutions of bilateral divided spouse cases. Until glasnost. those resolutions were the exception to Soviet policy. not the rule. While there have been recent improvements in Soviet practices. too many husbands and wives remain separated by artifically created Soviet barriers to emigration. The persons named in this resolution should be allowed to emigrate now. There is no justifiable reason why Galina Goltzman Michelson. Yuri Balovlenkov.
Keywords matched
emigrate family reunification emigration