48. Mr. Bendallasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek to persuade the Soviet authorities to permit those Jews who wish to leave the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to do so, in view of Soviet regulations which have limited Jewish applications for exit visas due to the difficulty of obtaining the necessary documentation.
Mr. RifkindWe deplore the present plight of Soviet Jewry and the drastic cut-back in Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union. We have repeatedly made clear to the Soviet authorities, both in direct bilateral contacts and within the CSCE framework, the widespread and legitimate concern that is felt in this country about the general deterioration in the Soviet human rights performance. We intend to keep up the pressure on the Soviet Union to live up to its international commitments in the field of human rights.