Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 93.djvu/1469

 CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—DEC. 20, 1979

93 STAT. 1437

IDA NUDEL—RELEASE FROM SOVIET EXILE AND EMIGRATION TO ISRAEL

Dec. 20, 1979 [H. Con. Res. 202]

Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee to all people the right to emigrate; and Whereas the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe commits signatory countries to "deal in a positive and humanitarian spirit" with the applications of persons wishing to emigrate to rejoin relatives; and Whereas the Soviet Union signed the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, is a party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and Whereas Ida Nudel first applied to emigrate from the Soviet Union to Israel in 1971 to rejoin her only living relatives; and Whereas Ida Nudel has devoted her life to the plight of Jewish political prisoners throughout the Soviet Union; and Whereas Ida Nudel has been convicted by the Soviet Government of "malicious hooliganism" for hanging a banner on her balcony which said, "KGB, give me my visa"; and Whereas Ida Nudel was sentenced to four years of exile in Siberia after a trial in which no witnesses were allowed to testify in her defense; and Whereas Ida Nudel's health has deteriorated to the point where it is unlikely that she can withstand another Siberian winter; and Whereas the continuing harassment of political and religious activists and intellectuals in the Soviet Union and in some other countries in Eastern Europe is a source of great concern to the American people and the United States Congress: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that, in accordance with 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, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics should release Ida Nudel from exile and allow her to emigrate to Israel so that she can be reunited with her sister and husband. SEC. 2. The Congress urges the President, acting directly or through the Secretary of State or other appropriate executive branch officials— (1) to continue to express at every suitable opportunity and in the strongest terms the opposition of the United States to the exile of Ida Nudel to Siberia; and (2) to inform the Soviet Union that the United States, in evaluating its relations with other countries, will take into account the extent to which those countries honor their commitments under international law, particularly with respect to the protection of human rights. SEC. 3. The Clerk of the House of Representatives shall transmit copies of this resolution to the Soviet Ambassador to the United States and to the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Agreed to December 20, 1979.

Sense of ^o'^s^'^ss-

Transmittal to Soviet officials.

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