Speech #1000133849

I want to thank my distinguished colleague from New York for sponsoring this special order. Secretary Gorbachevs visit to Washington next week presents us with an historic opportunity to achieve substantial progress on the issue of Soviet Jewry. Beyond the important step of signing of a treaty to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons. the summit will present a chance for progress on other issues. including the right of all Jews in the Soviet Union to practice their religion freely. and to emigrate if they wish. The introduction of the glasnost policy by General Secretary Gorbachev has resulted in heartening changes within the Soviet Union. Issues previously considered offlimits are now openly being debated. Countless prisoners of conscience have been released. and a number of prominent refuseniks have received permission to emigrate. While these steps taken by the Soviet Government are indeed encouraging. they are not enough. The Soviet Government has yet to fulfill its obligations to preserve the basic human rights of its citizensobligations which it voluntarily accepted when it signed the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1975 Helsinki Final Act. The Soviet Government continues to unjustly detain too many of its citizens. Soviet Jews are still subject to religious discrimination. Although the rate of emigration has increased in comparison to the last 2 years. it is not nearly what it should be. At the current rate. a total of 10.000 Jews will be given permission to leave the Soviet Union in 1987. But there are almost 400.000 Jews in the Soviet Union who have indicated that they want to emigrate. In 1979. approximately 51.000 Jews were allowed to leave. A return to such levels would be a significant sign that the Soviet Government is committed to improving its treatment of Soviet Jews. After much fanfare about a new. supposedly more liberal policy of emigration. the Soviet Union enacted a new highly restrictive emigration decree. in effect since January 1. 1987. The decree limits letters of invitation to emigrate to individuals who have close relatives in other nations. It thus effectively excludes thousands of Jews wanting to leave the Soviet Union. One of those individuals who have been denied the right to emigrate is Sergei Fishel. the son of one of my constituents. Like so many others. Sergeis family was displaced and divided by the effects of World War II.