The United States charged the Soviet Union yesterday with violating the freedom of movement of Soviet citizens, especially Jews, in restricting their emigration. American representative William E. Schaufele told the Commission on Human Rights that the Soviet policy toward Jewish emigration was an “outstanding example” of such violations.
He scored what he called the harsh treatment of Jewish activists and the sentencing of some of them to forced-labor terms. All Soviet citizens, he concluded, have “suffered from the Soviet government’s refusal to consider emigration as a right rather than a privilege.” Schaufele said he regretted that the Commission has not given priority to this issue.
Soviet delegate Nikifor I. Yevdokeyev called Schaufele’s charge a “slanderous diversion” to draw attention from the “horrendous” American practices in Indochina. The US, he said, should not interfere with Soviet emigration policies inasmuch as it bars travel by Americans to China and Cuba, Schaufele’s “cold war” statement, Yevdokeyev said, failed to acknowledge that visas are granted to Soviet Jews who want to leave for religious or other “genuine” reasons, and these are mainly elderly and children, some of whom return to the USSR.
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