U.S. Helsinki Commission condemns military regime in Poland (12/27/81)

U.S. Helsinki Commission condemns military regime in Poland

WASHINGTON - The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe expressed the most profound concern over the imposition of military rule - in violation of the Helsinki Final Act - in Poland on December 14 aimed at the suppression of the Polish workers' movement, Solidarity.

Commission Chairman Dante B. Fascell said: "Once again a Communist government has shown that fear is its only recourse when the people express their will. Ten million Poles joined Solidarity, the first independent advocate of workers' rights in an East European country.

"Significantly, Gen. Jaruzelski imposed martial law just days before the Polish parliament was to consider new labor laws which would have made Poland the first Warsaw Pact country to be in conformity with International Labor Organization standards."

The martial law provisions are in flagrant violation of key human rights and Basket III provisions of the Helsinki Final Act, said the CSCE, also known as the Helsinki Commission. The commission cited the following as violations:

the suspension of basic civil rights, particularly those of personal liberty, defined in the Polish Constitution;
the ban on holding of all kinds of gatherings, processions, demonstrations and public meetings;
the imposition of criminal penalties, including arrest, detention and summary trial of citizens who are suspected of posing a threat to the interests, security or defense of the state;
the introduction of forced labor;
the imposition of state censorship over all forms of communication, including all mail, telecommunications and telephone conversations;
introduction of limitations on freedom of movement, including a nightly curfew, on all Polish citizens;
the virtual halting of traffic at all Polish borders for all Polish citizens.

Many of these provisions, said the CSCE, are similar to normal, everyday restrictions placed on the lives of people in the Soviet Union.

The commission also stated that the government-imposed news blackout in Poland - flouting Helsinki pledges to promote the free exchange of ideas - has given the government a monopoly on information. Through this monopoly, official attempts have been made to mislead public opinion by blaming Solidarity for the crisis. Such a transparent tactic will never succeed in covering up government-imposed suppression of civil, political, economic and social rights pledged in the Helsinki Accords, the commission said.

The continued presence in Poland of Marshal Viktor Kulikov, Soviet commander-in-chief of the Warsaw Pact, reveals the depth of Soviet commitment to the present brutal course in Poland, noted the CSCE. Indeed, the presence of high-level Soviet military - and the timing of the action during the Christmas season - point to parallels with the tragic situation in Afghanistan.

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