Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 98 Part 3.djvu/1079

 CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—JUNE 28, 1984 SOVIET UNION'S NONDELIVERY OF MAIL ORIGINATING IN UNITED STATES Whereas the integrity of the mail service between the United States and the Soviet Union is being called into question by postal patrons in the United States and by postal patrons of 17 other countries who assert that postal items are systematically not being delivered to selected addresses in the Soviet Union; Whereas the Subcommittee on Postal Operations has documented these facts with over 2,000 exhibits and testimony from witnesses at hearings on this matter; Whereas the explanations required under international law and given by the Soviet postal administration regarding the nondelivery of mail to certain addresses have consistently been untimiely and inadequate; Whereas the mail which is not being delivered typically is between family members or persons sharing a religious bond and typically consists of personal correspondence or gifts of articles for personal 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 Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe; and Whereas the systematic exclusion of certain persons from international mail service also violates the Articles of the Constitution of the Universal Postal Union (with protocols), the general regulations of the Universal Postal Union with final protocol and annex, the Universal Postal Convention with final protocol and detailed regulations, and the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Now, therefore be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring). That it is the sense of the Congress— (1) that the President, through the Secretary of State, should express to the Government of the Soviet Union the disapproval of the American people of the Soviet Union's— (A) systematic nondelivery of properly addressed mail originating in the United States to the persons to whom it is addressed; and (B) violation of the Articles of the Constitution of the Universal Postal Union (with protocols), the general regular tions of the Universal Postal Union with final protocol and annex, the Universal Postal Convention with final protocol and detailed regulations, and the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe; and (2) that, at the meeting of the Congress of the Universal Postal Union in Hamburg, Germany, from June 18 to July 27, 1984, the representatives of the United States Postal Sendee should— (A) bring the Soviet Union's violations of international law governing international mail to the attention of the

98 STAT. 3451 June28, 1984 [H. Con. Res. 294]

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