68 Friday, December 9, 1983

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Value of Helsinki Accord Illuminated at Madrid Conference

By DR. WILLIAM KOREY

(Copyright 1983, JTA, Inc.)

It was former "Prisoner of
conscience" Iosif Men-
delevich who illuminated
the essential meaning of the
Helsinki accord and the
Madrid Conference. After
his release from the USSR,
he disclosed that the Soviet
administrator of his forced
labor camp had told him

"you are not alone. There is
a Madrid Conference .
which the Soviets have to
take into account."
The Helsinki accord of
1975 has provided a forum
where the critical Soviet
Jewish issue can be aired
whether yesterday or to-
morrow — to stir the consci-
ence of mankind. And to
which Moscow cannot be to-

tally different.
More than that Helsinki
cannot do, and it is regrett-
able that some have con-
ceived of the Helsinki ag-
reement as a means of com-
pelling Soviet action. The
accord carries no enforce-
ment power.

which the USSR plays a
part is structured to per-
mit the focussing of the
world spotlight upon
Soviet gross abridge-
ments of Jewish human
rights.

The United Nations and
all of its specialized agen-
But, as a forum, Madrid cies are currently distin-
was invaluable. No other guished by the double stan-
international forum in dard and selective morality.
Indeed, the UN is itself the
source of vicious anti-
Semitism through the
"Zionism equals racism" re-
solution.
In contrast, the bulk of
the Helsinki accord sig-
natories (26 of 35) subscribe
to Western traditions and
human rights values. Six-
teen are members of NATO
And 10 are neutral or non-
aligned.
On the eve of the Madrid
review meeting in the
fall 1980, the Kremlin at-
tempted to limit severely
the amount of time devoted
to implementation. But the
West, under ambassador
Max M. Kampelman's effec-
tive leadership, held firm
and ultimately won a pro-
cedural battle for a lengthy
and detailed review session.

An extraordinary total
of 121 individual cases of
Soviet bloc human rights
violations were
documented by the West
at Madrid (while at Bel-
grade only individual six
cases were fully aired).
Approximately one-half
were Soviet Jews, includ-
ing Anatoly
Shcharansky, Alexander
Lerner, Viktor
Brailovsky, Ida Nudel
and Iosif Begun. The U.S.,
led by Kampelman, was
in the forefront of this in-
itiative; still, 13 other
Western countries joined
in the endeavor.

these are only a few of the
features you'll find weekly
in The Jewish News

order a subscription or
gift subscription today!

...............................,
1 The Jewish News
1
I
I 17515 W. 9 Mile Rd., Suite 865
1
I 1 Southfield, Mich. 48075
1
I
I
I
I

I Gentlemen:
I
I Please send a (gift) subscription:
1
I NAME

I
I
I
I
I
I
1
1

LADDRESS

1

1
1 CITY
I
I From:

STATE

ZIP

1 If gift state occasion
I
$18 enclosed
P..........................,...
I

ri

1
1
I
I
I

Besides individual cases,
extensive exposure was
made of the pattern of dis-
crimination against Jewish
culture and religion, the
vicious and diminishing
anti-Jewish quota in Soviet
universitities, and the viru-
lent anti-Semitic campaign
in the Soviet media. The
ruthless cutback in Jewish
emigration received prior-
ity attention.
The anti-Semitic revela-
tions seriously embarrassed
the USSR, especially when
made by the representative
of a small power — Rene
Panis of Belgium. It proba-
bly prompted the late
Leonid Brezhnev to take the
most unusual step of pub-
licly denouncing anti-
Semitism in his policy ad-
dress to the 26th Party Con-
gress in February 1981.
Madrid, in sharp contrast
to Belgrade, ended in a
lengthy document in which
human rights was writ
large. It took three seem-
ingly endless years to reach
a conclusion, but the ag-
reement carried positive
overtones. The language on
religious rights was
strengthened, and ter-
rorism was condemned.

Particularly important
were the improvements
upon the Helsinki accord
in the area of reunion of

DR. WILLIAM KOREY

families. The signatories
pledged -to "favorably
deal with" and "decide
upon" applications for
"reunion of families."
Emigration requests
were to be answered
"within six months."
And, if refused, applic-
ants are to be advised of
"their right to renew ap-
plications after reasona-
bly short intervals." And,
in the interim, their rights
to employment, housing
and education are not to
be jeopardized.

But even more significant
was the decision to hold a
Madrid-sponsored experts'
conference on "human con-
tacts," which means "reun-
ion of families" -- in Berne,
Switzerland in April 1986.
The Kremlin had feroci-
ously opposed this U.S.
proposal but eventually
conceded after the Spanish
Socialist Prime Minister

r

Felipe Gonzalez had inter-
vened to recommend the ex-
perts' conference in order to
break the Madrid deadlock.
Besides the "human con-
tacts" conference, the Mad-
rid meeting agreed to an ex-
perts' meeting on human
rights to be held in Ottawa,
Canada in May 1985. Fi-
nally, the signatories
scheduled a third review-
implication session for Vie-
nna in November 1986.
That the U.S. should as-
sume the leadership in air-
ing the Soviet Jewish plight
at Stockholm springs from
the American tradition. The
late President John F. Ken-
nedy had given expression
to the axiom that "peace, in
the last analysis, is basi-
cally a matter of human
rights."
More recently, President
Reagan had underscored
the challenge posed by the
Helsinki accord. One July
15, he declared after ap-
proving the Madrid agree-
ment: "Giving substance to
the promises of Madrid and
Helsinki will remain one of
our prime objectives."
Sharply posing the Soviet
Jewish issue at Stockholm,
whether formally or in
"behind-the-scences" dis-
cussions, would be in keep-
ing with this commitment.

Nathan Birnbaum is one
of the world's oldest living
comedians — George Burns.

To: The Jewish News

1 75 1 5 W. 9 Mile Rd.

Suite 865

Southfield, Mich. 48075

ViElf JUST

from

Paste in old label

NAME

Effective Date

J

7;