In response to the concerns of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and other groups. who were worried that my original amendment might have the effect of undercutting JacksonVanik. I modified the amendment to eliminate any possibility of such a result. I have heard it said: "Progress in emigration leads to progresr on other human rights. so it would be counterproductive to do anything tha. might reduce emigration." Once again. this amendment would not hurt emigration. Furthermore. as the case of Romania illustrates. there is no particular correlation between emigration and other human rights. Congress recognized that when it voted to suspend Romanias MFN status. The Romanian Government cynically used its relatively liberal emigration policies to obscure its wretched record in other areas of human rights. Let me remind my colleagues that Nazi Germany maintained freedom of Jewish emigration at the same time that it adopted the infamous Nuremberg laws relegating Jews to secondclass citizens and laying the groundwork for the Holocaust. I have heard it suggested in a question: "But this is the wrong signal to send at this time. when emigration is on the rise and overall human rights practices are improving." The answer to that is simply this is essentially the same argument the Nixon administration and others made against JacksonVanik. The argument then was that "quiet diplomacy." not linkage. was the best way to secure increased emigration. The Soviets would lose face. we were told. if they seemed to be bowing to United States legislation requiring them to change their domestic practices. The Congress did not accept this kind of argument then and should not accept them now.
Keywords matched
emigration