asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if there is any improvement in the human rights record of the USSR Government since the Helsinki review conference in Madrid in September 1983.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - USSR Human Rights.
1.
The Deputy's question refers to the human rights record of the Soviet Union. This is a matter which is of concern to all the states signatory of the Final Act of Helsinki. It is my belief that the Concluding Document of the Madrid Meeting is a useful basis for progress in the area of human rights, as well as in other areas covered by the Final Act. In the course of the past year some improvements have been noted in the situation in the Soviet Union, notably the permission to leave the country accorded to the group of Pentecostalists known as the "Siberian Seven". However, the overall human rights situation in the Soviet Union continues to give cause for concern.
Has the Minister reports of a continuation in the Soviet policy of the suppression of religious freedom and the right of people to practice their religion in freedom? Have the Department reports of the absence of a humanitarian approach on the part of the Soviet authorities in dealing with applications from people who wish to emigrate to reunite with their families in Israel or abroad? Is the Minister aware of continuing harassment, arrests and imprisonment of Soviet Jews and other minorities in the Soviet Union?
Yes, we have some reports in that regard. As I said in my reply, it gives some cause for concern. However, the situation there has improved somewhat in recent years and I hope that the fact that the Soviet Union signed the Helsinki Act of 1975 and has been attending the CSCE meeting in Madrid and also the meeting in Stockholm indicates more openness in the matter of human rights from the Soviet Union side as a result and that the small progress which has been made in the last few years will continue.
Is the Minister aware that while some progress was made after the signing of the Helsinki Final Act, particularly in the context of the provisions which permit reunification of families, in recent times there has been complete regression on the part of the Soviet Union's compliance with the Helsinki Final Act? In 1979, 50,000 Soviet Jews who had applied for reunification with their families and to be permitted to emigrate from the Soviet Union were allowed to leave but in 1983 only 1,314 were allowed to leave and emigrate when something in the region of 400,000 Soviet Jews within the Soviet Union sought to leave the Soviet Union for the purpose of family reunification.
I am aware of that and, as I said, it is a cause for considerable concern. I hope the Soviet Union will review very urgently their policy of allowing particularly members of the Jewish community to emigrate when they so request and be reunited with their families outside the Soviet borders.
Would the Minister agree that the human rights record of certain other signatories to the Helsinki Final Act do not bear too much examination?
It is to be regretted that the political enthusiasm with which countries sign Acts such as this is not carried forward into practice after the signing of the Act.
Has the Minister any evidence, for instance, of greater respect for human rights by the British Government in Northern Ireland since the Helsinki agreement?
This question deals directly with the USSR. I do not think it would be in order to broaden it.
Having regard to the report which the Minister indicated he has, has he made or will he now make representations to the Soviet Union through the Soviet Ambassador in Ireland to urge an improvement in the human rights situation in the Soviet Union? Failing a positive response, would the Minister consider arranging for the matter to be raised at the United Nations in an effort to secure compliance from the Soviet Union with a formal treaty which they signed in Helsinki and in Madrid?
It has been the concern of every country on various occasions to ensure that all the signatories to the Helsinki Final Act would conform to the various measures outlined in it. I feel that in many instances public upbraiding of countries involved might have an effect opposite to that intended. Perhaps occasionally private interventions by government to government are more effective in individual cases. I will consider what the Deputy says, but, given the delicacy of the situation, the main concern must always be for the victims of these abuses of human rights. As to precisely how we should approach that, it may be more beneficial for those people if it was taken up privately rather than publicly.
When making an approach on this issue would the Minister, in the context of the Soviet Union's flagrant disregard of and failure to comply with the right to emigrate for reunification of families provision in the Helsinki Final Act, highlight the fact that this Government disapprove of the discriminatory and vindictive practices employed particularly against members of the Jewish community within the Soviet Union who, when they seek to emigrate, find themselves thrown out of employment, their children likely to be thrown out of third level education and very often themselves effectively ostracised in regard to any meaningful employment activity? Would the Minister confirm that in his view that is also a deplorable breach of the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act?
I have no evidence that what the Deputy says is correct, but I know that in many instances members of the Jewish community applied to emigrate and were refused such permission. That is to be regretted, as I have said already. I hope that the Soviet Union will review its position in this regard.
If the Minister has no evidence of the matters referred to by Deputy Shatter, may I send to him the report and resolution on this subject adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe which lists quite a number of examples of situations of the sort described by Deputy Shatter?
Of course. I would be very glad to receive it.
2.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if there has been any improvement in the situation in the USSR whereby sane persons were detained in institutions for political or religious reasons; and if he will make representations to the USSR Government on the matter.
While there is little doubt that the Soviet authorities at one time detained sane persons in psychiatric institutions, I have no conclusive evidence that this occurs at the present time.