Socialist Republic of Vietnam

According to statistics provided by scientists from Colombia University in the US, around 80 million litres of toxic chemicals containing 61 percent of Agent Orange (AO) and 366 kg of dioxin were sprayed over approximately 17 percent of southern Vietnam between 1961-1971.

Dioxin is the most harmful chemical found to date. One nanogram of dioxin equivalent to one billionth of a gram can cause cancers and badly affect human reproductive health for many generations. Several dozens of nanograms of dioxin can kill people immediately. Around 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to toxic chemicals. Of these, 3 million people, including children, have become victims of AO/Dioxin.

The Vietnamese State established Committee 10-80 to investigate the aftermath of the US chemical war and Steering Board 33 to deal with war consequences. In February 2000, the Vietnamese Government issued a policy to support AO/dioxin victims and funded the Vietnam Red Cross Society to help provide plastic surgery for children with disabilities. On July 24, 1998, a fund to support AO/dioxin victims was established by the Vietnam Red Cross Society with the aim of encouraging organisations and individuals at home and abroad to help these people.

However, support of the community and society is not enough as AO/dioxin victims remain the poorest people of the poor and suffer the most.

On January 10, 2004, the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin was officially set up to protect the rights of AO/dioxin victims. The association serves as a legal representative for Vietnamese AO/dioxin to have relations with foreign and domestic organisations and individuals.

On January 30, 2004, at the US Federal Court in Brooklyn district, New York, the association along with some AO/dioxin victims sued 37 US chemical companies for providing toxic chemicals for US troops for use during the Vietnam war.

On February 2, 2004, the association released a statement calling on people throughout the country and the globe to support AO/dioxin victims by launching activities for peace and justice.

On June 25, 2004, representatives from 32 member organisations of the Vietnam Fatherland Front held a conference under the theme “For Vietnamese victims of AO/dioxin). At the conference, they agreed to select August 10 annually as the National Day for Vietnamese AO/dioxin Victims.

AO victims receive strong int’l support

To date, the VAVA received 12.5 million signatures from across the country and from international friends. The Association’s fund received more than VND8.7 billion of donations from domestic and international organisations. With this money, hundreds of houses of Agent Orange victims have been upgraded and built, and hundreds of thousands of gifts have been presented to the victims during public holidays.

The VAVA also received support and assistance from friendship organisations in the UK, France, Germany, Russia and Switzerland, the World Peace Council, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the Swedish Committee for Solidarity with Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, the Brazil Peace Committee, the Korean War Veteran Association, and the Vietnam Veterans of America. Many artists from Switzerland, Japan and the US have travelled to Vietnam many times to perform and raise donations for Vietnamese Agent Orange victims.

From November 12 to December 13, 2005, under the sponsorship of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign and the Vietnam Veterans of America, a Vietnamese delegation of Agent Orange victims, headed by VAVA Vice President Prof. Nguyen Trong Nhan, together with two Agent Orange victims Dang Hong Nhut and Ho Si Hai, travelled to 10 big US cities. The delegation sent a message to half a million of US citizens informing them about Vietnamese Agent Orange victims and the lawsuit against US chemical companies. Wherever it travelled, it received strong support from individuals and organisations.

Not only Vietnamese victims, many US, Korean, Australian, New Zealand veterans who joined the Vietnam war have found themselves exposed to Agent Orange/Dioxin. Canadian veterans in Gatetown and many other places also found a link between their diseases and Agent Orange/Dioxin.

For that reason, international lawyers gathered in Hanoi on February 21, 2006 to voice support for Vietnamese Agent Orange/Dioxin victims. Social activists and scientists from New Zealand, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Russia, and Switzerland demanded that US chemical companies pay Agent Orange victims compensation.

Twenty-eight British PMs on April 20 submitted a petition to the parliament requiring US chemical companies to pay compensations to Vietnamese Agent Orange victims. UK Ecologist Magazine in its May edition also called on people to support the UN’s suggestion to mark August 10 as International Day for victims of chemical weapons.

(At a conference in Hanoi in 2004, the Vietnam Fatherland Front decided to observe August 10 as the National Day for Vietnamese AO/dioxin Victims)

Source: Radio Voice of Vietnam