Sargent Shriver, the Democratic candidate for Vice President, proposed yesterday an international convention on emigration “to secure this right in international law.” He also asked UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim to go to Moscow in a personal effort to have the exit tax rescinded. A spokesman for Shriver agreed that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, guarantees that “everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own…,” but said the candidate wanted to have all nations reaffirm this with signatures on a statement of implementation.
Shriver criticized President Nixon for silence on the Soviet Jewish emigration issue. In an election campaign speech he said that he and his running mate, Sen. George McGovern “believe that the question of the exit tax should be linked to trade concessions.” He continued: “Of course Sen. McGovern and I want more trade with the Soviet Union” but not on a “business-as-usual basis” while human rights are violated.
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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.
