A resolution that asks the United States to raise the question of Jewish emigration rights in the Soviet Union before the United Nations was introduced yesterday by Sen. James L. Buckley (Cons. R., N.Y.). It calls on Congress to urge President Nixon to place before the UN General Assembly the issue of the right of all persons to emigrate from and return to one’s country. The resolution has been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. An identical resolution was introduced in the House last week by Rep. Jack Kemp (R., N.Y.) and is expected to emerge from the House Foreign Affairs Committee for a vote next week.
Both resolutions declare that authoritative world opinion and international law consider the right to leave and to return to one’s country is a fundamental human right binding on all governments. Aides of Sen. Buckley and Rep. Kemp said their concurrent legislative proposals mark the first time the issue will have been brought before the General Assembly. They said the resolutions have the approval of the State Department and the US Ambassador to the UN, George Bush.
Listed at the top of the resolution as an example of the need for an international debate on the subject is the “vengeful trial” in Leningrad of Jews attempting to leave Russia. Other points were the plight of persons seeking to emigrate from the Ukraine, the killing of 65 persons seeking to flee from East Berlin to the West and the Soviet prosecution of a Lithuanian seaman who vainly sought asylum aboard a US Coast Guard cutter last year.
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