Aiding Soviet Jewish Refusniks

A seminar to demonstrate how American lawyers can intervene in individual cases of Soviet Jews who are arbitrarily denied emigration visas in contravention of international law and the Soviet Constitution, was held at the New York Bar Association yesterday with the participation of 80 practicing attorneys from the New York area and professors of low from leading law schools in the U.S. and Canada.

The seminar was sponsored jointly by the New York Legal Coalition for Soviet Jewry, an affiliate of the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry; B’nai Zion, the Zionist fraternal order; and the deans of six low schools.

Speakers included Prof. Leon Lipson, Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Low School; Prof. Louis Henkin of Columbia University Low School; Prof. of Low Irwin Cotler of McGill University, Montreal; and Robert McKay, director of the Aspen Institute. Program for Justice, who is co-chairman of the Legal Coalition. Prof. Howard Greenberger, of New York University Low School, co-chairman of the Legal Coalition, presided.

Cotler, who reviewed his legal defense of Anatoly Shcharansky, pointed out that Soviet Jews are unique because they seek to test the Soviet Constitution and international low. “It is up to us to support them,” he said. According to McKay, lawyers can and should help define international statutes which pertain to Soviet Jews and shape the policies that can aid them. Henkin cited United Nations covenants which pertain to the emigration movement. But he cautioned against any move that would cause the Soviets to lose face in the international arena.

“The Soviet Union does not like to be called international outlaws, ” he said. He suggested that any effort to aid Soviet Jews include extensive notations of how the USSR would best be in compliance with international standards.

Lipson spoke of the discriminatory aspects of Soviet emigration policies and referred to individual cases to illustrate the wide variety of tools used by Soviet emigration officials to cut back on emigration. He discussed the difficulties of obtaining legal redress in a system which does not give the courts jurisdiction over matters of emigration.