Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 98 Part 3.djvu/1139

 CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—OCT. 10, 1984

98 STAT. 3511

ceremonies conducted for the inauguration of the President-elect and the Vice President-elect of the United States. Such Committee is authorized to utilize appropriate equipment and the services of appropriate personnel of departments and agencies of the Federal Government, under arrangements between such Committee and the heads of such departments and agencies, in connection with such proceedings and ceremonies. Agreed to October 9, 1984.

EMIGRATION RIGHTS OF SOVIET JEWS Whereas the Government of the Soviet Union is pursuing a policy of virtually closing its borders to Jewish emigration, as evidenced by declining emigration levels which for 1982 were the lowest since 1970, with only two thousand six hundred and eighty-eight Soviet Jews allowed to emigrate; Whereas this policy has left tens of thousands of people seeking to emigrate from the Soviet Union with little hope of being granted permission to emigrate in the foreseeable future; Whereas there are several hundred long-term "refuseniks", including many children, who applied to emigrate from the Soviet Union between 1970 and 1976 and have been waiting for permission to emigrate since that time; Whereas those who have been denied emigration rights, especially the long-term "refuseniks", are often subjected to a life as internal refugees in the Soviet Union, resulting in loss of jobs, loss of membership in important social and professional organizations, revocation of academic degrees, surveillance and arbitrary assault, and other forms of harassment of social isolation; Whereas these individuals also suffer physical, emotional, and psychological problems which result from social isolation; Whereas these individuals are also denied the right to cultural expression, evidenced by the breaking up of cultural seminars and Hebrew classes and harassment by Soviet officials of those individuals participating in those forms of cultural expression; Whereas these individuals are subjected to arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, and internal exile, as is the case with the Jewish "Prisoners of Conscience" currently serving sentences in the Soviet Union; Whereas it is the stated policy of United States law, including section 502B(a)(l) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and section 402 of the Trade Act of 1974, that human rights considerations are a vital element of United States foreign policy; and Whereas the Government of the Soviet Union, by arbitrarily denying its citizens the right to emigrate and the right to religious and cultural expression, and by harassing members of a specific ethnic group, is violating the norms of international law as set forlth in agreements and declarations such as the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (hereafter in this concurrent resolution referred to as the "Helsinki Final Act"), the

Oct. 10, 1984 [S. Con. Res. 11]

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