IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HELSINKI ACCORDS HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE NINETY-NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION BERN HUMAN CONTACTS EXPERTS MEETING MARCH 18 AND JUNE 18, 1986 Printed for the use of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 59-121 0 WASHINGTON: 1986 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE ALFONSE M. D'AMATO, New York, Chairman STENY H. HOYER, Maryland, Cochairman JOHN HEINZ, Pennsylvania DANTE B. FASCELL, Florida JAMES A. McCLURE, Idaho SIDNEY R. YATES, Illinois MALCOLM WALLOP, Wyoming TIMOTHY E. WIRTH, Colorado GORDON J. HUMPHREY, New Hampshire EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts CLAIBORNE PELL, Rhode Island DON RITTER, Pennsylvania PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey RUSSELL B. LONG, Louisiana JACK F. KEMP, New York DENNIS DECONCINI, Arizona JOHN E. PORTER, Illinois EXECUTIVE BRANCH Hon. RICHARD NORMAN PERLE, Department of Defense Vacancy, Department of Commerce Vacancy, Department of State MICHAEL R. HATHAWAY, Staff Director MARY SUE HAFNER, General Counsel ROBERT HAND, Hearing Coordinator RONALD MCNAMARA, Hearing Coordinator (11) CONTENTS MARCH 18, 1986 WITNESS Page Novak, Ambassador Michael, head of delegation to the Bern Human Contacts Experts Meeting ............................................................ 5 JUNE 18, 1986 Ridgway, The Hon. Rozanne L., Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs ............................................................ 22 Novak, Ambassador Michael, head of U.S. delegation to the Bern Human Contacts Experts Meeting ............................................................. 30 Korey, William, public member to the U.S. delegation to the Bern Human Contacts Experts Meeting ............................................................. 53 Epstein, Mark, executive director of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews ....... 56 Sussman, Leonard R., executive director, Freedom House ..................... I ................ 62 APPENDIXES MARCH 18, 1986 Appendix 1: Written statement submitted by Commissioner John Heinz ............ 75 Appendix 2: Written statement submitted by Commissioner Malcolm Wallop... 77 Appendix 3: Article written by Ambassador Novak entitled "Helsinki Process, Round Two," Washington Times, March 21, 1986 ................................................. 80 Appendix 4: Commission and State Department correspondence regarding appointment of public delegates to Bern HCEM ................................................... 85 JUNE 18, 1986 Appendix 5: Written statement submitted by Commissioner Malcolm Wallop... 88 Appendix 6: Written analysis of Bern HCEM Compromise Document prepared by Ambassador Novak ............................................................ 90 Appendix 7: Compilation of speeches delivered by U.S. delegation to the Bern HCEM ............................................................ 108 Appendix 8: Correspondence exchanged between Commission Chairman and Cochairman and Ambassador Novak ............................................................ 248 Appendix 9: Compilation of related news articles ..................................................... 225 (111) THE BERN HUMAN CONTACTS EXPERTS MEETING TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 1986 COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE, Washington, DC. Thd: Commission met, pursuant to notice, in room 428-A, of the Russeill Senate Office Building, at 10 a.m., Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato (chairman) and Representative Steny H. Hoyer (cochair- man) presiding. In attendance: Commissioners and Senators Gordon J. Hum- phrey and Dennis DeConcini; and Commissioner and Representa- tive Don Ritter. Also in attendance: Michael R. Hathaway, staff director, and Mary Sue Hafner, general counsel of the Commission. OPENING STATEMENT OF COCHAIRMAN HOYER Cochairman HOYER. Mr. Ambassador, on behalf of Chairman D'Amato, whose plane, unfortunately has been delayed from New York, I want to welcome you today. I understand you have a plane to catch to New York, as a matter of fact, maybe you can catch his plane. Ambassador NOVAK. I hope. Cochairman HOYER. Maybe the Senator is bringing the plane here for you. In any event on behalf of the entire Commission, I am pleased to welcome you to this hearing of the Commission. Hopeful- ly, the Senator's plane will not be so delayed that he will miss the hearing. However, we know that we want to get you out of here as close to 12 o'clock as is possible, since you are scheduled to catch a flight shortly thereafter. So we'll accommodate you. On behalf of the chairman, I will now read his prepared statement. Mr. Ambassador and members of the Commission, the Ambassador is appearing before us today as the head of the U.S. delegation to the Human Contacts Experts Meeting which will be held in Bern, Switzerland beginning on April 15 of this year. We have asked him to testify today concerning the U.S. goals for the Human Con- tacts Experts Meeting and respond to questions from the Commission regarding var- ious aspects of our policy there. While this morning's hearing will be brief, it is also, we believe, Mr. Ambassador and members of the Commission, very important. The Bern meeting is important for a number of reasons. It is the second of two experts meetings since the Madrid meeting to deal with topics we regard as essentially human rights issues. The first of these expert meetings, the Ottawa Human Rights Meeting, was nota- ble for Soviet intransigence. There, the Soviets displayed the lack of commitment to live up to the promises they made in the Helsinki Final Act and the Madrid Con- cluding Document. (1) 2 The Bern meeting is the Soviets' last chance, in our opinion, before Vienna to demonstrate willingness to treat seriously their human rights obligations and un- dertakings. Beyond the immediate question of Soviet compliance with the human rights promises they made at Helsinki and Madrid lies the issue of balance within the Hel- sinki process itself. One stand that the Soviets and their allies take, regards the def- inition of human rights. We understand that they have been conducting damage control on that issue, while they also pursue their objectives in the trade and security aspects in the CSCE process. This year it is possible for the process to fall fatally out of balance. If the Stock- holm CDE negotiations produce a security agreement and all of the meetings on human rights topics fail to secure any improvement in Soviet human rights per- formance, then the Soviets will achieve their objective while denying us our objec- tive. Bern is a chance for the Soviets to demonstrate a real commitment to the future of the process by making genuine improvements in human rights for their citizens. The Bern meeting and the issues we will discuss there are vitally important to our major nongovernmental organizations. These NGO's played an important role in supporting the concept of the Human Contacts Experts Meeting at the Madrid Review Conference. Issues such as family visits, family reunification, immigration, and contacts be- tween people are very, very important to these groups and their members. Soviet compliance, whether there are past promises in these areas, would do a great deal, in our opinion, to increase the credibility of the Helsinki process itself. Yet the Bern meeting holds the risk that the allies may press for an empty agree- ment just for the sake of reaching an agreement. U.S. concurrence in such a course of action would, I believe, in our opinion, strike a blow at the credibility of the proc- ess, from which it possibly could not recover. Certainly, support for the process from these interested NGO's would be seriously damaged. Finally, there is the question of the role of the Helsinki process in U.S. foreign policy. There are dismaying indications that, despite the President's recognition of the vital importance of human rights in U.S. foreign policy, the State Department deals with the Helsinki process on not the same level that perhaps this Commission would give it. I want to say on my own behalf, however, I do believe that the State Department has in fact given, certainly publicly in the person of the Secretary of State, very high visibility to this Na- tion's commitment to the human rights initiatives. Senator D'Amato may want to add some comments on that point when he arrives. The Senator's statement continues. These are some of the key points, Mr. Ambassador, that the Commission wishes to discuss with you at this morning's hearing. I have some specific questions which I will ask later after your presentation. Let me at this point in time turn to one of our most active mem- bers of the Commission and one of our most able members of the Commission as well as of the U.S. Senate, a good friend of mine, Senator DeConcini from Arizona for any comments that he might want to make. STATEMENT OF SENATOR DENNIS DeCONCINI FROM ARIZONA Mr. DECONCINI. Chairman Hoyer, thank you very much for those kind remarks. Thank you for your leadership here. Ambassador, I am here to listen to you. I hope you can give us- and I'm sure you will-some details of your recent meetings in the Soviet Union. I'm looking for a candid approach of what the expec- tations, in your judgment, might be, and I underscore might, realiz- ing of no certainty here, at the Bern meeting. 3 I share the concern expressed in the chairman's statement this morning, that we don't want an empty or a hollow meeting and agreement there. I think it's important for us to be very realistic before we attend those meetings as to what we might attain- obtain from such a meeting. So, Mr. Chairman, I'm here to listen to the Ambassador. Thank you. Cochairman HOYER. Thank you, Senator. Now I'd like to intro- duce for whatever comments he might want to make at the outset, Congressman Don Ritter, our colleague from Pennsylvania who has been one of those most deeply involved in concerns with reference to human rights, with reference to the CSCE process, and who, I might add, is probably one of our most knowledgeable Members as it relates to the Soviet Union and to the Eastern bloc.