Abstract

Watching Rights

The article presents information about the human rights in the U.S. Human rights advocates should acknowledge, of course, that they have been opportunistic in seizing on the most favored nation issue. The law that makes this tactic possible is the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, enacted in 1974. Its purpose, stated in the preamble, is "to assure the continued dedication of the U.S. to fundamental human rights, "but the body of the law is concerned with only one right: the right to emigrate. Its authors devised it to put pressure on Russia to allow Jews to leave the country. Lest the law be applied to some ally of the U.S. that also restricted emigration, further, to insure that Communist countries friendly to the U.S. would not be penalized and the law empowered the President to issue an annual waiver of its application. This finding is in turn subject to Congressional approval.