Speech #1020063586

Senators LAUTENBERG. KOHL. and GRASSLEY. For the past 15 years. this Call to Conscience has brought to the attention of this body. the American public and Soviet authorities the plight of countless refuseniks who had been denied their basic rights of freedom of movement and family reunification. While in the past I have focused on a particular refusenik. today I would like to talk briefly about several situations which are precluding Soviet Jews from emigrating. According to reports provided by the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. many applicants face delays of up to 7 or 8 months before getting responses to their applications for exit permission. In other instances. many OVIR offices [Office of Visas and Registration) are so overwhelmed with the number of applicants. that they have had to close their doors temporarily. Further reports indicate that in a number of cities all graduates from certain institutions such as the Penza Polytechnic Institute are being deemed to have access to state secrets and are being told that they cannot apply to emigrate from the Soviet Union. Mr. President. over the past few years there has been a marked improvement in the number of Soviet Jews and others permitted to emigrate. According o statistics in 1989 more than 71.217 Jews emigrated from the Soviet Union. That number more than doubled to 186.815 in 1990 and through the end of June of this year those emigrating had already surpassed 100.000. These figures are impressive. but we cannot ignore those who are still being denied their right to leave the Soviet Union. In May 20. the Supreme Soviet passed. in principal. a new law on exit and entry from the Soviet Union. The legislation represents a significant improvement over existing emigration law. However. several sections fall short of internationally recognized standards. including those of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe [CSCE]. on freedom of movement issues. In addition. the law will not fully go into effect until January 1993. Although the number of Jews leaving has risen and the Soviets have passed their emigration legislation. the number of refuseniks and those Soviet Jews who are unable to apply to emigrate. the socalled poor relatives. remains in the hundreds. Despite the fact that people continue to be denied the right to leave. some for more than 10 years--and in spite of existing obstacles to full freedom of movement. President Bush has announced his intention to grant the Soviet Union an additional 1 year waiver of the JacksonVanik amendment to the 1974 Trade Act. In order to ensure further progress is made on the remaining refusenik cases. I. along with Congressman STENY HoYER have introduced a sense of the Congress resolution. that asks the President to consider certain performance factors before providing a waiver in 1992 of the JacksonVanik trade restrictions. This resolution would basically see to it that the Soviets live up to their commitments in implementing their recently passed emigration legislation. The resolution asks the President to consider the following objectives before providing in 1992 a waiver of the JacksonVanik trade restrictions: First. all individuals who. for at least 5 years. have been refused permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union. are given permission to emigrate. second. restrictions on freedom of movement. including those pertaining to secrecy. are not being abused or applied in an arbitrary manner. third. a fair. impartial. and effective administrative or judicial appeals process exists for those who have been denied permission to emigrate. fourth. the Government of the Soviet Union is ensuring that its laws. regulations. practices. and policies conform from their commitments under its international obligations. including the relevant provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and all Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe Commitments. Prior to President Bushs meeting with President Gorbachev in London. the leadership of the Helsinki Commission sent a letter to President Bush asking that he raise several human rights issues with the Soviet President. These issues focused on the remaining refuseniks and the situation in the Baltic States of Latvia.