Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 96 Part 2.djvu/1284

 96 STAT. 2646

CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—JUNE 21, 1982

Whereas it is well documented that the Soviet Union continues to violate the human rights provisions of the Helsinki accords, as well as the Soviet Constitution, the United Nations Charter, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by denying to the citizens of the Ukraine rights of national identity and basic human rights in every walk of life; Whereas the Soviet Union flagrantly persecutes and imprisons the citizens of the Ukraine who are lawfully engaged in asking their government for the institution of national and human rights in the Ukraine; and Whereas the continued violations by the Soviet Union of human rights, and in particular its persecution of the members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Group, are factors that contribute to tensions between the East and West and create doubts about the validity of the international commitments of the Soviet Union: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring)^ That it is the sense of the Congress that the President should— (1) proclaim November 9, 1982, the sixth anniversary of the establishment of the Ukrainian Public Group To Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords, as a day honoring that group; and (2) ask the Soviet Union to release the incarcerated members J of the Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Group, and to cease the persecution and the imprisonment of those citizens in the Ukraine asking for the institution of national, civil, and individual rights in accordance with the Soviet Constitution, the >' United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Helsinki accords. Agreed to June 21, 1982.

MART NIKLUS—U.S. SUPPORT FOR RELEASE FROM IMPRISONMENT AND EMIGRATION June 21, 1982 [H. Con. Res. 218]

F R O M U.S.S.R. Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee to all individuals the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, the right to hold opinions without interference, the right to freedom of expression, and the right to emigrate; Whereas the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki accords) commits the signatory countries to respect individual rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular to "deal in a positive and humanitarian spirit" with the applications of persons wishing to emigrate to rejoin relatives; Whereas the Soviet Union signed the Helsinki accords and has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Whereas Mart Niklus, an Estonian scientist, has not been permitted to work in his profession as a biologist and zoologist and has been dismissed from his job as a language teacher because of his attempts to promote in the Baltic countries Soviet compliance with the Helsinki accords;

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