Human Rights (Hansard, 13 January 1988)

§ Mr. Mellor

During the last six months to 31 December 1987, Soviet and East European implementation of their Helsinki commitments continued to carry special significance in the light of the third CSCE follow-up meeting currently under way in Vienna. Overall, compliance with CSCE commitments continued to be unsatisfactory, with persistent breaches of the provisions relating to human rights and fundamental freedoms, although the record varied from country to country.

Security in Europe: Principles regarding relations between participating states; confidence-building measures and certain aspects of security and disarmament (basket I).

Violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms covered by principle VII, including freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief continued.

In the Soviet Union there was little significant change in practice towards principle VII. Performance over the last six months was disappointing in some areas, when compared with the more encouraging rate of change up to July. Some hundreds of people are still known to be detained for political reasons, including the Estonian Helsinki monitor, Mart Niklus, whose case has been raised by Her Majesty's Government on a number of occasions. 286W A formal amnesty, published in June in connection with the 70th anniversary of the October revolution, did not benefit as many political prisoners as had been hoped. It did not cover inmates of mental hospitals receiving treatment for political reasons, although some people in this category have been released recently. Although virtually no new criminal prosecutions on political grounds were known to have occurred—one exception being the case of Ivan Pankratchenko, given a 10-year sentence in October for "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda" — some activists were subjected to an extensive range of harassment. Several old-style press attacks on individuals were published. Soviet criminal legislation, including some of the articles most commonly used to sentence political or religious activists, is reported to be under review. It was officially suggested that article 190/1 of the RSFSR criminal code in particular (slandering the Soviet state) might be abolished and article 70 revised. But no amendments have yet been published.

The theoretical freedom of religion enshrined in the Soviet constitution has remained a dead letter for many of those wishing to profess their religion without being subject to petty controls and harassment from party and state organs. Many believers such as the Orthodox priest, Vladimir Rusak, remain imprisoned for their faith, although the Baptist, Anna Chertkova, was finally released from psychiatric hospital in December after a long campaign in the United Kingdom to free her. However, there were articles in several newspapers defending believers' rights and criticising the authorities for infringing them.

The welcome and steady increase in the numbers of Jews, Armenians and Germans allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union noted in the first half of the year continued. Some long-standing Jewish refuseniks were given permission to leave, including Ida Nudel, Vladimir Slepak, Alexander Ioffe, Pavel Abramovich, Iosif Begun and Viktor Brailovsky. Analysis of Jewish emigration shows that in practice the "first degree" rule, introduced in January, permitting emigration only by close family members, was waived in some cases and that former security objections were dropped in others. An interdepartmental review commission was established to examine refusals; however, the initial experience of its working has been discouraging. The process is still arbitrary and subject to local differences. Marking something of a break with past practice, former emigrants (mainly Jewish) were allowed to return to the USSR in some numbers—and even to leave again, in individual cases. But others were unable to return, having been stripped of their citizenship when they first emigrated. One such case is that of Mrs. Inna Budanova, currently resident in the United Kingdom.

In non-Russian areas of the Soviet Union, some intellectuals expressed outspoken demands for greater linguistic and cultural rights. Some demonstrations by national groups with grievances (Jews, Balts, Crimean Tartars) were permitted; others, particularly those not witnessed by Western journalists, were suppressed, sometimes with force.

The record of Bulgarian CSCE implementation in the last six months showed little change from that in earlier periods. Principle VII continued to be widely flouted, both for ethnic Bulgarians and ethnic Turks. Religious practice for all non-orthodox denominations remained difficult. Although the appointment of a new Catholic bishop of 287W Plovdiv was allowed, the functioning of the Catholic church was closely circumscribed. The Muslim community continued to receive the worst treatment. There was strict supervision of Turkish populated areas during a Muslim festival in August to prevent traditional rituals. The use of the Turkish language in public remained banned. There were also reports of harassment of ethnic Turks by the Bulgarian militia.

There was no significant improvement in Czechoslovakia's implementation of CSCE provisions. While freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed, the freedom of religious practice continued to be strictly limited and regimented by the state. But harassment of religious activists appears to have been limited recently to temporary detention, surveillance and interrogation. Among the positive developments was the release of all but one of the members of the Jazz Section imprisoned earlier in the year. Karel Srp remained in detention. Harassment of other dissidents and members of unofficial groups continued at a relatively low level. To our knowledge no Charter 77 activists were charged in the last six months, although some were detained and interrogated. In September police refrained for the first time from breaking up a public Charter meeting, but since then groups gathering in private have been disrupted by the authorities on spurious grounds.

The overall implementation of the final act by the GDR remained unsatisfactory despite certain positive aspects. The Evangelical and Roman Catholic churches held large gatherings at which church views were clearly expressed. For the first time in over two decades, a rabbi was appointed for the Jewish community. There was the first ever non-state organised peace demonstration in September, but in November the authorities took action, including the arrest of a number of people, to suppress the activities of an environment library attached to a Protestant church in East Berlin. The death penalty was abolished and a general amnesty was announced. The order to shoot those attempting to flee the country continued in force, though there have been few reported incidents of shots having been fired.

Hungary continued to be the most open of the Eastern European countries with a fairly good, but not flawless, record of compliance with CSCE commitments. Church-state relations remained harmonious. The role of dissidents took on a slightly higher profile, which provoked some harassment of minor samizdat publications. Several conscientious objectors to military service remained in gaol.

Polish implementation of the human rights provisions of the final act improved during the last six months. No custodial sentences for political prisoners were imposed, although heavy fines were handed down for activities such as the distribution of illegal literature. There was a high degree of religious tolerance, although limits continued to be placed on publications by churches and other religious bodies.

Over the last six months, the Romanian regime distinguished itself by its ugly repressiveness. Unlike its Eastern European neighbours, Romania's CSCE implementation record continued to deteriorate in all aspects of human rights. Although no information on political trials became available, prisoners of conscience continued to be detained. Religious toleration existed only in so far as it did not conflict with official policy. Romania continued to 288W pay lip service to promoting the effective exercise of human rights and freedoms, while repressing the population through the maintenance of a climate of fear.

Confidence and security building measures

Warsaw pact countries continued to comply strictly with the commitments entered into in September 1986 with the adoption of the Stockholm document. In the last six months four observable Warsaw pact exercises and nine observable NATO exercises took place, including two involving United Kingdom troops. British observers participated in a Soviet-GDR exercise in September. Hungary notified "as an act of good will" one exercise (Bazalt-87) held in October, even though it fell below the notifiable level. Observers from six Warsaw pact countries (all except Romania) attended the Purple Warrior exercise in the United Kingdom in November.

Co-operation in the field of Economics, of Science and Technology, and of the Environment (Basket II)

There were some interesting new developments, though the resulting practical benefits were few. In the Soviet Union a relaxation of the visa regime for participants in joint ventures was announced. The Soviet joint venture legislation was amended in September but its terms remain too restrictive to attract many companies. So far only 13 ventures — with medium or small firms — have been concluded, although the Soviet Union may be considering further amendments to make the ventures more attractive. Both Hungary and Poland have implemented economic and financial measures of interest to Western business. But in general there was virtually no improvement in the conditions for business men from the West; (and in Romania conditions remained particularly unsatisfactory). Throughout the Eastern countries housing, hotel rooms and office facilities continued to be generally inadequate and expensive. Telecommunications facilities were still poor. Economic and commercial information remained inadequate and unreliable.

Environmental problems drew an increasing amount of public comment, both from Eastern Government officials and citizens. The Hungarians appointed an Environment Minister in December; the first in Eastern Europe. Additional resources have been promised, especially in the USSR, but it seems that attention to pollution is still not a major priority.

Co-operation in Humanitarian and Other Fields (Basket III)

In most Eastern countries, there was little improvement in opportunities for outside contact. In the Soviet Union there was a gradual improvement in the processing of exit visas and a significant increase in the number of exit visas granted for temporary family visits. But it was still the case that only a fortunate few were able to travel abroad. The Soviet press itself carried critical comment on the bureaucratic obstacles to travel still in place. As already noted, emigration levels rose significantly for some groups, but decisions on applications remained arbitrary or subject to dubious state security restrictions. The substantial and welcome increase in GDR citizens under pensionable age allowed to visit the West continued, though the procedures for granting visas remained inconsistent and the number of those allowed to emigrate remained at a low level. The Hungarians announced that liberalised travel rules would be introduced in 1988. Poland introduced a more relaxed passport policy and Czechoslovakia made marginal 289W improvements in its travel regime, but Bulgaria and Romania continued to resist changes to facilitate human contacts.

The official Soviet media continued to be relatively open under the policy of glasnost, with a measure of debate on a wide range of sensitive issues, such as Soviet history, psychiatric abuse, and legal institutions. However, differences of emphasis about the scope of the policy emerged from the speeches of Soviet leaders. In any case, it became clear that the policy was not intended to apply to some of the most critical samizdat publications, such as glasnost. Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe, Deutsche Welle and Israel Radio remained jammed. So too did the BBC Polish service on shortwave, apparently from within the Soviet Union, though we have been promised by the Poles that this will cease from 1 January. Some of the many new informal groups began to be attacked in the press and leading members were harassed. Attempts were made in December to disrupt an unofficial humanitarian seminar in Moscow. There were some small positive developments in Eastern Europe; for example, difficult subjects, like AIDS, and major accidents began to be treated more openly in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and the GDR. In Poland the appearance of the first legal "independent" press organ, Res Publica was an important step. But overall access to information remained severely restricted. Availability of Western publications was generally poor (partly as a result of financial constraints) and conditions for journalists remained difficult or, in the case of Romania, became worse.

Co-operation and Exchanges in the field of Culture and Education

There were no major new developments in these fields.

Over the last six months cultural co-operation with the Soviet Union increased following the signing earlier in the year of United Kingdom-Soviet memorandum of understanding covering information, culture and education. The Kirov ballet toured Britain, the Royal ballet visited some Soviet cities and Soviet culture was strongly represented at this year's Edinburgh festival. A cultural agreement also came into effect with Hungary in July and the British Council resources in Hungary were increased to cover new activities.

Visits and stays by research workers or academics were largely governed by an increasing number of bilateral agreements. These generally worked well, although the East remained keen to ensure that educational exchanges focused on scientific and technical areas which corresponded to state requirements. Exchanges with Romania were hampered because nominees frequently failed to get permission to travel.