Turning the pages back...

August 11, 1985

Fifteen years ago, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, the Senate and House of Representatives both passed a resolution commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords and reaffirming the human rights principles and humanitarian provisions of the international agreement signed by 35 states, including the United States and the Soviet Union. The Weekly reported on August 11, 1985, that Senate Joint Resolution 180 was passed by the Senate on July 29 and by the House the next day. It was introduced in the Senate by Helsinki Commission Chairman Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) and in the House by Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

The resolution noted that "the Helsinki process has evolved into an important tool of East-West human rights diplomacy and continues to serve as a beacon of hope to victims of oppression in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe."

It also said that "the Soviet Union displays contempt for basic civil and political rights, such as freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief, [and] confines in prisons, labor camps and psychiatric institutions or internally exiles hundreds of citizens who have sought to know and act upon their rights, among them 37 imprisoned members of Helsinki monitoring groups."

The joint resolution resolved the following:

• the Congress strongly reaffirms the human rights principles and humanitarian provisions of the Final Act and the Madrid Concluding Document;
  
  
• the Congress recognizes and condemns continued East Bloc violations of international obligations under the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the Helsinki Final Act, the Madrid Concluding Document, and other relevant international instruments;
  
  
• the Congress requests that the president of the United States direct the U.S. Department of State to convey to the Soviet Union and its allies the United States' deep and abiding human rights concerns;
  
  
• the Congress urges the president to direct the U.S. Department of State to take full advantage of the opportunities provided by all upcoming meetings of Helsinki signatory states to call the Soviet Union and its allies to account for ongoing human rights violations and to work constructively with the governments of the other Western democracies to promote human rights progress in the Eastern signatory states; and
  
  
• the Congress calls upon the president to use every opportunity to stress the inherent link - explicitly stated in the Helsinki Final Act and the Madrid Concluding Document - between respect for human rights and the achievement of lasting peace.

Source: "Congress passes resolution affirming Helsinki Accords' continued value," The Ukrainian Weekly, August 11, 1985, Vol. LIII, No. 32.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 6, 2000, No. 32, Vol. LXVIII

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