U.S. Finds Flaws in Soviet Rights Record

The Soviets and their allies have taken some dramatic steps to improve their human rights performance, but their overall record of compliance with a 1975 rights agreement “remains seriously flawed,” the State Department said Friday.

The ability of Soviet citizens to express their views has been enhanced by the willingness of authorities to “tolerate some forms of dissent,” the department said in a semiannual report to Congress.

“There was an increase in the number of demonstrations, petitions and letters of protest,” the report said. It also cited gains in the rights of reunification of divided families, an increase in Jewish emigration and an increase in the availability of outside information in the controlled Soviet media.

The latest report is on the six months ending Oct. 1 and was similar to 22 previous U.S. reports on East Bloc compliance with the 35-nation Helsinki Agreement on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

‘Positive Trends’

“While positive trends continued and some dramatic steps were taken by some Warsaw Pact nations, the overall record of compliance of these governments with their commitments in the areas of human rights and economic cooperation remained seriously flawed,” the report said.

“At home, Soviet human rights policy was in flux during the reporting period; while the situation improved dramatically in some cases, human rights violations continued and the structural and legal apparatus that makes official repression possible remained in place,” the report said.

There were, however, more bright spots listed than in the previous studies, and the improvements were credited to “the Soviet leadership’s campaign for more openness in and democratization of Soviet society.”

“Significant improvements were seen in Soviet policy toward family reunification, although problem areas remained,” the report said. “Jewish emigration increased significantly and a number of longstanding Jewish refuseniks were given permission to emigrate.

“Even so, many more Soviet Jews still wait for permission to emigrate,” the report said.

Listed on the negative side were continued violations of the Helsinki accords, including Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, its support for the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia and continued exercise of tight control on travel outside the country.

As for other East Bloc nations, “there were some gains in some countries, but the overall record remains unsatisfactory,” the report said.

On Friday, the U.S. Helsinki Commission, meeting on Capitol Hill, heard from a group of former Soviet refuseniks, including Natan Sharansky, who complained about various human rights abuses in the Soviet Union.

Sharansky, speaking on the Soviets’ new policy of openness, contended: “Glasnost does not mean freedom of speech. It means only that people can say some things approved by the government.”