Situation of the German ethnic minority in the Soviet Union

Recommendation 1040 (1986)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 17 September 1986 (9th Sitting) (see Doc. 5591, report of the Committee on Relations with European Non-Member Countries). Text adopted by the Assembly on 17 September 1986 (9th Sitting).

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Remaining convinced that the rights of ethnic minorities and groups guaranteed in international agreements on human rights, the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference and the Final Declaration of Madrid must be respected by all the states concerned ;

2. Reaffirming its view that the German minority in the USSR must also be granted entitlement to these rights of ethnic minorities and groups, as well as all the other rights and liberties guaranteed by international agreements on human rights ;

3. Referring in this connection to its Recommendation 972 (1983) concerning the situation of the German ethnic minority in the Soviet Union ;

4. Having examined on the basis of this recommendation what progress, if any, has been achieved towards implementation of the human rights demands therein with respect to the German minority in the Soviet Union ;

5. Regretting that the rights of the German minority in the Soviet Union continue to be seriously violated ;

6. Deploring that, despite the undertakings of the USSR in the concluding document of the CSCE held in Madrid in 1983 ‘‘to assure constant and tangible progress in accordance with the Final Act'' (‘‘Principles'', paragraph 9) as regards the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms, not only has there been no progress with respect to the human rights of the German minority in the Soviet Union, but there has even been a steady, unmistakable fall in the number of exit visas granted ;

7. Regretting also that persons, including many members of the German minority whose emigration applications are rejected, are moreover treated by the Soviet authorities in a manner which constitutes a breach of human rights, in particular, by dismissal from work or discrimination at the place of work, by resettlement in other regions, by excluding their children from institutes of higher education or universities, by denunciation at factory meetings or in the media or by ridiculing their children at school ;

8. Urging the Government of the USSR to ensure that the authorities respect the above-mentioned human rights also where the German minority is concerned ;

9. Inviting the Government of the USSR to ensure that German pastors are once again admitted to Christian communities in the Soviet Union with a large proportion of Germans, and that an adequate number of teachers are made available to teach German to children belonging to the German minority ;

10. Urging the Government of the USSR to permit all those Germans wishing to leave the country, in particular to join relatives in Germany, to do so, in accordance with the agreements reached, to deal promptly and without bureaucratic obstacles with these individuals' applications for exit visas and not to discriminate against individuals who make suchapplications,

11. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers once more invite the governments of member states :

11.1 to support the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany in its efforts to improve the situation of the German minority in the USSR ;

11.2 to give special attention to the fate of the German minority in the USSR at future meetings of the CSCE, and in particular at the forthcoming follow-up conference in Vienna in November 1986, and to try to achieve concrete agreements ;

11.3 in the absence of any concrete agreements in Vienna, to find out whether, and if so in what way, the situation of the German minority in the Soviet Union with respect to human rights can be brought before the United Nations and in particular before the Human Rights Commission and the Committee set up in accordance with Article 28 of the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights