The Republican Party’s platform drafted by a committee of 108 delegates calls on the Soviet Union to "implement" the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and the 1975 Helsinki Agreement that "guarantee" emigration rights and the termination of "all forms of harassment" of those wishing to emigrate.
The UN and Helsinki agreements, the draft states, include the right of "emigration of Soviet Jews, Christians, Moslems and others who wish to join close relatives abroad. In this spirit, we shall expect the immediate end of all forms of harassment, including imprisonment and military service, aimed at preventing such emigration."
The draft of this section, which is expected to be ratified by the convention tomorrow night without change, makes no mention of the Jackson Vanik provision of the U.S. Trade Reform Act of 1974 that underpins U.S. government actions toward inducing the Soviet Union to modify its emigration policy.
In dealing with equal rights and ending discrimination, the platform calls for "vigorous enforcement of laws to assure equal treatment" in job recruitment, hiring, promotion, pay, credit, mortgage access and housing. But, "the way to end" discrimination "is not by resurrecting the discredited quota system and attempting to cloak it in an aura of new respectability," the plank states.
It recommends "alternative means of assisting the victims of past discrimination," including educational opportunities. Saying "diversity in education has great value," the platform recommends "public schools and non-public schools should share in education funds on a constitutionally acceptable basis." It also says that private colleges and universities should be assisted.
MORALITY PLANK SOUGHT
Meanwhile, Ronald Reagan’s chief campaign strategist, John Sears III, announced at a news conference today that Reagan will ask the convention to "further strengthen" the party’s platform by adopting a statement emphasizing the need for morality in the way the United States conducts its relations with other nations.
Later, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency asked Sears whether this would affect the platform as it stands, including the Middle East section. "Some of the things" in the Reagan statement on morality in foreign policy, he said, "might be applicable to the Middle East."
During the news conference, Sears carefully avoided linking Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and secret deals he is alleged to have been making with countries, including those in the Mideast.
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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.
