The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions sent an appeal today to Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin to “speed the administrative procedures” required to implement the Premier’s promise this month to aid emigration of Soviet Jews seeking reunion with other members of their families living outside the Soviet Union. The Premier made the promise at a press conference in Paris on December 3.
Omer Becu, general secretary of the ICFTU, said also in the letter to Premier Kosygin that the ICFTU had adopted a resolution at a November meeting of its executive board in the Barbados, dealing with national equality and religious freedom. He quoted the request in the resolution that the Soviet authorities allow all Soviet citizens, and particularly the Jewish community, “to enjoy and pursue its own cultural and religious life.”
The resolution, as transmitted to Premier Kosygin, asked that Soviet Jews be allowed to leave to join members of their families “separated as a consequence of war and Fascist persecution.” The ICFTU official added that “the principles expressed in the resolution are based on the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which the Soviet Union has signed.”
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