A group of Congressmen has appealed to Postmaster General William Bolger to urge “that our U.S. delegation bring up the problem of the non-delivery of United States mail to Soviet Jews and others with the Soviet postal authorities” at the forthcoming Universal Postal Union meeting in Bern, Switzerland.
According to the Washington office of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, the message sent to Bolger was initiated by Rep. Jim Courter (R. N. J.) and Benjamin Gilman (R. N.Y.) and signed by 81 of their colleagues. The lawmakers stressed that mail sent to the USSR is “a life line of support to Soviet citizens” wishing to be in contact with friends and family in the U.S.
The message said that international mail delivery must be viewed as an “integral element” of the human rights provisions in the Helsinki Final Act. Noting that many of their constituents had contacted them, the Congressmen pointed out that mail delivery is vital to those who have applied to emigrate.
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