A report than may point the way to United Nations action that could result in asking the Soviet Union to permit Jews to emigrate is being prepared here today, and will come up next week before the UN’s anti-bias group, a subcommission of the Commission on Human Rights.
The anti-bias group, officially known as the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, will open its 14th annual session here next Monday, and will continue its deliberations until at least February 2.
A number of reports dealing with the elimination of bias in various fields are on the subcommission’s agenda. One draft, being completed today in tentative form, is of particular interest to Jewish groups concerned about the Soviet Union’s closed-door policy in regard to the desire of Russian Jews to emigrate. This draft, being prepared by Jose D. Ingles, of the Philippines, deals among other issues with “the right of everyone to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”
According to Mr. Ingles’ tentative findings, the rights of nationals to return to their own countries are “almost completely favorable, with few notable exceptions.” However, Mr. Ingles has found, as regards the rights of a national to leave his own country, the situation is “far less favorable, and indeed the general trend over a period of many years has been retrogressive.”
Mentioning neither Russia nor the Russian Jews specifically, the report points out that “greater numbers of people are effectively confined behind their national boundaries today than in previous periods of history. Comparatively few countries,” added Mr. Ingles, “appear to recognize, either in their constitutions, laws, or administrative regulations, the right of a national to leave the country.”
Other reports to come before the subcommission will deal with discrimination in the field of political rights and with texts of international agreements “which provide special protective measures for ethnic, religious or linguistic groups.” The report by Mr. Ingles is expected to deal also with the question of the protection of minorities and with measures that should be taken for the cessation of any advocacy of national, racial or religious hostility. Concrete proposals are expected to be formulated in the Ingles report for the elimination of these various forms of religious, racial or ethnic discrimination.
There are 14 members on the Subcommission, all appointed as individual experts. The American representative is Judge Philip Halpern of Buffalo, a well-known Jewish leader active in national as well as local communal affairs.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
