Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 93.djvu/1458

 93 STAT. 1426 Q^t. 10, 1979

CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—OCT. 10, 1979 NONDELIVERY OF INTERNATIONAL MAIL BY THE SOVIET U N I O N

[H. Con. Res. 167]

Expression of disapproval.

Whereas the integrity of the mail service between the United States and the Soviet Union is being called into question by mailers in the United States who assert that postal items are systematically not being delivered to selected addresses in the Soviet Union; Whereas the explanations required under international law and given by the Soviet postal administration in regard to the nondelivery of mail to certain addresses have been inaccurate, insufficient, or untimely; Whereas the mail which is not being delivered typically is between family members or persons sharing a religious, ethnic, or professional bond and typically consists of personal correspondence or gifts of articles for personal or professional use; Whereas the nondelivery of mail which is deliverable as addressed and which does not contain prohibited articles is an interference by the Soviet Union with internationaly recognized human rights guaranteed to all persons by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe; Whereas such nondelivery also violates the Acts of the Universal Postal Union: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress— (1) that the President, through the Department of State, should express to the Government of the Soviet Union the disapproval of the American people— (A) concerning those postal items which are mailed in the United States and are deliverable in the Soviet Union as addressed but which are systematically not delivered by the Soviet Union to the persons to whom they are addressed; and (B) concerning violations by the Soviet Union of the Acts of the Universal Postal Union and violations of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe; (2) that the Department of State should bring to the attention of other member countries of the Universal Postal Union patterns of nondelivery of international mail by the Soviet Union contrary to the Acts of the Universal Postal Union and to the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and (3) that at the Congress of the Universal Postal Union in Brazil in 1979, the delegation of the United States should ask other member countries to support the adoption of technical amendments to the Universal Postal Convention and to take such other measures as they consider appropriate that would encourage improved postal performance by the Soviet Union. Agreed to October 10, 1979.

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