Yet those Aral) and Moslem States. where a great number of Jews remain since this massive population exchange. have been given few freedoms and remain as virtual hostages. In Syria alone. there are approximately 4.000 Jews who remain. Efforts to obtain their release. or to gain permission for their emigration. have been fruitless. Should they be suspected of having visited Israel illegally or be caught attempting to emigrate or travel abroad without permission. they will be subject to prosecution. The Syrian Oovernment stated in 1989 that it would positively consider emigration requests for either the purpose of family reunification or for unmarried Jewish women who are unable to find a suitable husband In the small Jewish community. Yet contrary to those statements. the bmigration numbers in these cases increased In 1989 alone while in 1991. the Syrians permitted only 20 unmarried Jewish women to emigrate to Israel. Furthermore. the Syrian Jews are more closely watched than all other Syrians. They are locked in the country. contrary to their choice and it seems that they have become Syrias political hostages. They are unable to travel freely. they are unable to emigrate freely and they are heavily monitored by the government. This is an outright violation of Internationally agreed upon fundamental human rights. For this reason. Mr. Speaker. I call on Syria to immediately rescind these prohibitions. to permit both free travel and free emigration and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
Keywords matched
family reunification emigrate emigration