Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 98 Part 3.djvu/1070

 98 STAT. 3442

CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—FEB. 7, 1984

Whereas the United States has adhered to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other relevant instruments relating to human rights; Whereas the United States has supported the Declaration of Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 1514 (XV) of December 14, 1960, and has taken note of the resolution on the question of the Baltic States, adopted by the European Parliament in its session on January 13, 1983, in Strasbourg, France; Whereas the three Baltic republics, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, did not become member republics of the Soviet Union voluntarily, but rather were occupied militarily and subsequently incorporated by force into the Soviet Union and have since been governed by governments approved by, and subservient to, the Government of the Soviet Union; and Whereas the United States has consistently refused to recognize the unlawful Soviet occupation of the Baltic States and has continued to maintain diplomatic relations with representatives of the independent republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring). That it is the sense of the Congress that— (1) the United States, as a member of the United Nations, should fulfill its obligations, on the basis of the appropriate international instruments, to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; (2) the President, acting through the Secretary of State and the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, should take all necessary steps to bring the question of self-determination of the Baltic States before all appropriate forums of the United Nations, especially before the next session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission as a priority topic under agenda item 9 entitled "The Rights of Peoples to Self-Determination and its Application to Peoples Under Colonial or Alien Domination" and to discuss specifically in those forums— (A)(i) the continued reports of widespread violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, including the freedom of expression, the freedom to worship according to the dictates of one's own conscience, the freedom to celebrate one's cultural heritage, and the freedom to choose one's place of residence; and (ii) the persecution of persons seeking to exercise such rights; (B) the United States most profound concern that the people of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania be granted the right to self-determination, to choose their own form of government, their own economic, political, and social system without any outside intervention, subversion, coercion, or constraint of any kind; and (C) a political resolution of the situation in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on the basis o— f (i) the withdrawal of Soviet troops from these states, (ii) respect for the independence, sovereignty, and

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