When Speeches End, Hard Job Begins at Helsinki Review Talks

When the public speechmaking ends today at the Helsinki review conference, the representatives of 35 governments will settle down to the long task of trying to improve compliance with the 1975 accords on security and cooperation in Europe.

In the first four days of the meeting, there were speeches by the U.S. secretary of state, the Soviet foreign minister, the British foreign secretary and their counterparts in Canada and every European state except Albania. Few new proposals were put forth, and Western governments generally share the view expressed by Shultz that “escape from the violation of existing commitments cannot be found in the flight to new commitments.”

Next week, when the delegates begin a clause-by-clause examination of how the Helsinki commitments have been observed since the last review conference, three years ago in Madrid, the Soviet Union and its East Bloc allies will be confronted by detailed catalogues of their human rights violations.

Disinformation Charged

Already, on Thursday, a coalition of human rights organizations charged that the Soviet Union is conducting a campaign of disinformation to claim that there has been improvement in its treatment of political dissidents.

Canadian human rights advocate Irwin Cotler told reporters here that the Soviet Union has “developed a whole new Orwellian newspeak” to convey the impression that it protects the rights of its citizens.

“Speaking the truth is considered anti-Soviet slander. Seeking family reunification is seen as malicious hooliganism. Monitoring human rights is seen as defamatory to Soviet reality,” Cotler said.

Also to be discussed here are the Helsinki provisions on economic cooperation in Europe, and how to move forward in this area after the successful Stockholm conference in September on military confidence-building measures, including notification and observation of military exercises.

Lack of Progress Seen

Western, neutral and nonaligned delegations are hesitant about putting forth any new proposals in part because of an almost total lack of progress on the proposals so laboriously worked out at the Madrid meeting.

In the three years since Madrid, there have been special conferences under the so-called Helsinki process at Ottawa, Budapest, Athens, Bern and Stockholm. Only the Stockholm meeting produced any results.

A proposal here Wednesday by Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, for a special conference in Moscow on “the whole range of human contacts--information, culture and education,” has been greeted mainly with incredulity. One delegate remarked that “at least it shows that the Russians have a sense of humor.” But others were prepared to discuss it as a serious proposal, even though it is not considered likely to get anywhere.

Tied to Emigration

An East Bloc delegate theorized that if the Soviet proposal were accepted, such a conference could probably not be convened for at least three years. He said it would have to be preceded by an increase in Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union, the reunification of families and spouses kept apart by Soviet rulings, and improvement in such areas as the availability of Western books and newspapers in the Soviet Union.

Countries of the European Communities are considering a proposal to tackle the human rights question by setting up “Helsinki observer teams.” These would consist of five or six members from different countries and would visit each of the 35 countries that have signed the Helsinki accords. They would monitor compliance and report on their findings.

The Western countries may also propose a special Helsinki conference dealing with the exchange of information and with improved working conditions for the press. Another possibility is a special conference on medical cooperation, growing in part out of the Soviet nuclear disaster at Chernobyl last April.

The first review conference, in Belgrade in 1977-78, lasted only a few months and the delegates were not able to agree even on a final document. The Madrid conference went on for nearly three years. Here in Vienna the delegates are pledged to try to conclude their work by the middle of next year. But most of them seem to believe that they will still be here in the spring of 1988.