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In Belgrade, human rights are played forte, not fortissimo

Representatives of 35 nations gathered in Finland more than two years ago to sign a document that unexpectedly ignited human hopes across the Continent. But human rights activism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe sparked by the Helsinki accord threatened to undo years of work toward East-West detente. Thus when a svelte Swedish woman delegate, two priests from the Vatican, a mustachioed Spaniard and some 400 other delegates to the Belgrade meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation congregated in the corridors of starkly modern Sava Conference Center last week, much more was involved than a club reunion of old friends. They were meeting to assess how the signatory nations have complied with the "Three Baskets" of the agreement--military security, economic cooperation and humanitarian exchanges. It will not be an easy task. Even before the meeting began, there were fears that it would become a bitter political wrangle between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. over human rights.

But any fireworks will apparently come later. As the conference opened, policemen were cordoned around the Sava Center to prevent protesters from entering. With such crucial matters as SALT and the Geneva conference on the Middle East hanging in the balance, both big powers and nearly all of the other 33 Helsinki signatories seemed determined to avoid dissension and provocation.

Former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, the chief U.S. delegate, arrived in Belgrade with a big smile and a deft phrase, promising to promote "detente with a human face." Next day the Soviet Union's Yuli Vorontsov invited Goldberg to lunch at a Belgrade restaurant; the Russians picked up the tab. By the luck of the draw, both delivered their opening remarks on the same day. Confident and assured, Vorontsov boasted that the new Soviet constitution that had just been adopted embodied all the basic principles of the Helsinki accord. He pointedly warned that "cooperation in humanitarian and other fields" is only possible if all countries refrain from interfering in each other's internal affairs. That same afternoon, Goldberg delivered his speech, which had been much revised by Administration policy planners. The final approved version did not clatter over the embassy Teletype from Washington until 2:30 a.m. the day he was to read it. Startling delegates by greeting them in Serbian and frequently ad-libbing (his address ran twelve minutes longer than the prescribed 30 minutes), Goldberg read off a list of human rights violations but named no names or countries. He noted that there had been "encouraging evidence of progress" since Helsinki, but concluded that "the progress displayed is not progress enough."

The U.S. will insist on a thorough examination of how the 1975 agreement worked, including a review of the American performance. Specifically, Goldberg will try to persuade Soviet-bloc countries to make family reunions across East-West borders easier by eliminating exorbitant visa fees and reprisals against would-be emigrants--like dismissal from their jobs. He will also propose multiple-entry visas for businessmen trading with Communist countries and elimination of red tape that currently restricts journalists' entry into the Eastern bloc.

Both in meetings with European Community nations and in NATO huddles Washington has carefully coordinated its approach on human rights with its European allies. In essence, the consensus has been to play it forte but not dangerously fortissimo. Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands are solidly behind the issue, as is France.

The human rights controversy is part of Basket Three, which calls for freer circulation of people and ideas between East and West and more international freedoms. Basket One is devoted to "confidence building" by such means as advance notice of military maneuvers. Basket Two concerns science, technology and trade; the last is of special interest to countries like West Germany that want more commercial and technical exchange between East and West.

Delegates of smaller states will undoubtedly insist that Belgrade '77 take up particular causes dear to their hearts. Switzerland, for example, pressed the case for disarmament; Yugoslavia is expected to complain about the plight of a Slovene minority in Austria; Portugal raised the problem of its migrant "guest workers" in industrialized northern Europe. "Indeed, there are many more issues involved here than human rights, and many more countries present than the two superpowers," the lone delegate from the tiny duchy of Luxembourg remarked proudly. "Here there are a lot more of us than of them."

No need to tell it to the Maltese. Their country is darkly threatening to play the mouse that roared. Already last week its delegates were waxing eloquent about the need to demilitarize the Mediterranean and turn it into a neutral basin--presumably after they have dispatched the Sixth Fleet back across the Atlantic.

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