Helsinki Final Act (Hansard, 25 July 1985)

§ Mr. Luce

during the six-month period to 30 June 1985. implementation by the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries of their commitments under the Helsinki final act remained generally unsatisfactory although the pattern varied from country to country. In the Soviet Union, in particular, attitudes towards human rights and fundamental freedoms remained negative.

SECURITY IN EUROPE: PRINCIPLES GUIDING RELATIONS PARTICIPATING STATES: CONFIDENCE BUILDING MEASURES AND CERTAIN ASPECTS OF SECURITY AND DISARMAMENT (BASKET I).

PRINCIPLE VII, WHICII IS CONCERNED WITH RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING THE FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, CONSCIENCE, RELIGION OR BELIEF" CONTINUED TO VIOLATED BY AEI. EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. THE POSTURE OF THE SOVIET UNION AND THE WARSAW PACY COUNTRIES AT THE CSCE EXPERT MEETING ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN OTTAWA GAVE NO HOPE FOR ANY IMMEDIATE IMPROVEMENT IN THE HUMAN RIGHTS' PERFORMANCE OF THE COUNTRIES CONCERNED. In the Soviet Union, repression of human rights' monitors and those active on behalf of religious or minority rights continued unabated. Particular pressure was put on unregistered religious sects, such as Baptists, Pentecostalists and, in the Ukraine, the banned Uniates. In March. Vasyl Kobryn, a leading member of the "initiative group for the defence of believers in the Ukraine" was sentenced to 3 years' labour camp on a charge of "disseminating anti-Soviet fabrications". Victor Walter, pastor of an unregistered Pentecostalist church in the far-east of the Soviet Union received a 5-year labour camp sentence in April; several other members of the church were also arrested and sentenced. A Lithuanian, Vladas Lapienis, was sentenced in March to 6 years in the camps and internal exile just before his 79th birthday while the following month a prominent Ukrainian activist, Mykola Horbal, received a sentence totalling 11 years. Within the Jewish community there were a number of arrests and sentencing of teachers of Hebrew in what appears to be an attempt by the authorities to stop the spread of the Hebrew language in the Soviet Union. Pressures on refuseniks continued. Action was also taken against various unofficial groups including the "Trust" group in Moscow and the Georgian "Phantom" group. The practice of resentencing political prisoners and the political abuse of psychiatry continued. There was no sign of any significant improvement in the position of well-known individuals such as Anatoly Shcharansky or Andrei Sakharov. In early 1985, Dr. Sakharov announced that he would resign from the Soviet Academy of Sciences if his wife were not allowed to travel to the West for necessary medical treatment. Although it is not clear whether he carried out his threat to go on hunger strike, Dr. Sakharov's family believe that he did and that he might have been hospitalised as a result. At the end of June, the authorities released two films of Dr. Sakharov, allegedly taken in Gorky, which suggested that he was in poor health but receiving medical attention. There is, however, no means of checking the authenticity of the films. In Bulgaria. the Government continued to respect Principles I to VI whilst overlooking the others. The period under review was dominated by reports of an intensification of the persecution 686W of the ethnic Turkish minority in Bulgaria. According to the reports a campaign was launched at the end of 1984 to force ethnic Turks to adopt Bulgarian names. Evidence suggests that there was resistance in some areas and that this may have led to a large number of deaths. Repression of religious activity heightened during the review period. Czechoslovak implementation of Principle VII continued to be unsatisfactory. This was illustrated by the use of "protective supervision" in the case of some released prisoners, and a series of arrests and trials resulting from government attempts to restrict religious practice. A positive development was the amnesty announced on 9 May which benefited a number of people sentenced for political offences. In Poland, church-state relations remained poor in the wake of the murder of Father Popieluszko despite the Government's proclaimed desire for national reconciliation. Harassment and criticism of priests associated with the opposition continued. The number of political prisoners rapidly increased over the period and a tightening of the criminal code, made it easier to punish those taking part in demonstrations. In mid-February, the authorities broke up a meeting of several solidarity leaders in Gdansk and arrested three individuals: Bogdan Lis, Adam Michnik and Wladyslaw Frasyniuk. All three were later given sentences ranging from 2½ to 3½ years, subject to appeal In general, Romania and the GDR continued to pay scam regard to the humanitarian provisions of the Helsinki and Madrid documents. By contrast, despite one or two disturbing developments, Hungary's record on human rights remained comparatively good.