Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 97.djvu/222

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97 STAT. 190 PUBLIC LAW 98-30 —MAY 18, 1983 Public Law 98-30 98th Congress Joint Resolution May 18, 1983 Designating May 21, 1983, as "Andrei Sakharov Day". [S.J. Res. 51] Whereas Andrei Sakharov has earned the admiration and gratitude of all the peoples of the world for his tireless and courageous efforts to secure basic human freedoms for the peoples of the Soviet Union, including those rights and freedoms proclaimed and guaranteed in the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe signed at Helsinki, August 1, 1975; and Whereas Andrei Sakharov has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for "his love of truth and strong belief in the inviolability of human beings... his courageous defense of the human spirit..." and a life that has made him "the conscience of mankind"; and Whereas Andrei Sakharov, in direct consequence of his tireless work for world peace and human rights, has been illegally confined by the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the remote city of Gorky, where, on May 21, 1983, he will spend his sixty-second birthday in almost total isolation; and Whereas even under conditions of isolation and harassment by Soviet authorities, Andrei Sakharov has continued to speak with eloquence and great moral force for the causes of human rights and world peace, for amnesty for all prisoners of conscience, and for full compliance by all signatory states with the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and the United Nations Universal Declara- tion of Human Rights: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United National Andrei States of America in Congress assembled, That May 21, 1983, is Sakharov Day. designated "National Andrei Sakharov Day" and the President of the United States is authorized and requested to issue a proclama- tion calling upon the people of the United States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. SEC. 2. The President of the United States is authorized and requested to call upon all nations of the world to designate May 21, 1983, as "National Andrei Sakharov Day" within their respective nations. SEC. 3. The President of the United States is authorized and requested to urge the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to permit Andrei Seikharov and his wife, Elena Bonner, freely to choose their place of residence.