It provides for a fourstep approach to issues under discussion. starting with a request for information and moving on to bilateral and multilateral discussion of the issues at hand. In short. the mechanism is a formal diplomatic channel for lodging complaints on human rights performance. The United States has invoked the mechanism on four occasions: with the Romanian Government for arresting six former leading officials who circulated a letter critical of the Romanian regime. with the Czechoslovak Government for the arrest and detention of eight human rights activists including Vaclav Havel. with the Bulgarian Government for the arrest and detention of human rights activists. and with the Soviet Government for denying visas to Lithuanian Americans invited to attend a conference in Vilnius. The U.S. Government considered each instance carefully and used the mechanism to raise stark violations of the spirit and letter of the Helsinki Final Act.