A delegation of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims, led by Tran Xuan Thu, Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA), met with 150 American friends including many war veterans in New York on June 16.

At the meeting, Mr Thu said that his delegation arrived in the US for the first oral argument of a lawsuit filed by the AO victims, to be heard before the US Court of Appeal on June 18, and told the US public about the aftermath of Agent Orange in Vietnam .

He introduced the four AO victim members of the delegation to the audience, saying they represent millions of Vietnamese victims of AO/Dioxin. They are Nguyen Thi Hong from southern Dong Nai province, Nguyen Van Quy from northern Hai Phong city, and Vo Thanh Hai and Nguyen Muoi from central Thua Thien-Hue province.

Sixty-year-old Nguyen Thi Hong worked as a nurse on the battlefields in the southeast region of the country and has been suffering from serious diseases as a result of her exposure to defoliant sprayed by the US troops during the war. The dioxin has also had direct links to the health problems of her three children.

Nguyen Van Quy (52), a former solider operating along the Ho Chi Minh trail, which was heavily sprayed with AO between 1972-1975, is currently suffering from stomach cancer. His three children also suffered from deformities due to their father's exposure to the herbicide with one of them dying right after birth.

Vo Thanh Hai (47) worked in the Nam Dong region in central Hue province from 1978-1993, which was heavily sprayed with toxic chemicals, during the war. He is now suffering from Hodgkin's, and the lingering consequences of AO has caused the deaths of his two young children.

Nguyen Muoi (24), a son of a war veteran who was based in A Luoi valley in Thua Thien-Hue province, a AO spraying hotspot during the Vietnam War, suffers from spina bifida as a result of his father's exposure to AO.

Thu said that around 4.8 million Vietnamese people have been exposed to dioxin, and over 3 million of them have been eventually becoming AO victims. Half of families of AO victims are from mostly poor households. Half of the AO victims' families have at least two members affected by AO and eight per thousand of these families have at least five members affected. The victims have filed a lawsuit against US chemicals companies which produce toxic chemicals causing serious long-time harm on their country's people's health and environment.

David Cline, president of the US Veterans for Peace and Co-founder of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC), said that Quy and he were enemies once but both of them have been AO victims and are struggling for justice. He said that he was awarded an honour in the war and now he presented the order to Quy. His gesture was applauded by all attendants at the meeting.

Cline called on the American people and war veterans to attend the court of appeals on June 18 to express their support for Vietnamese AO victims and require justice for them.

Lawyer Constantine Kokkoris, representative of the plaintiff, said that what the result of the lawsuit will be, Vietnamese AO victims have won in the tribunal of public opinion. (VNA)

RoK's veterans support lawsuit by Vietnamese AO victims

"We demand genuine compensations for veterans, people and victims of Vietnam in order to resolve dioxin-related issues," said a statement issued by the Korean Victims of Agent Orange Veterans Association (KAOVA).

The statement was handed over by KAOVA Secretary General Kim Sung Wook to Seoul-based Vietnam News Agency reporters on the eve of an oral argument at the US Court of Appeals in New York on June 18.

"The KAOVA Presidium respectably send words of encouragement to leaders and members of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) in your efforts to demand compensations for Vietnamese AO victims," the statement said.

Close to 320,000 soldiers from the Republic of Korea took part in the war in Vietnam and estimated 150,000 of whom have claimed to have suffered from illnesses associated with the AO. In 2006, the Seoul High Court ruled two US makers, Dow Chemical and the Monsanto, to pay more than US $63 million to 6,800 Korean AO/dioxin victims and their relatives.

KAOVA Secretary General Kim Sung Wook added "We have struggled for eight years...but have yet to receive any twins from the US. This is a long and difficult fight..."

"Vietnam and the US should boost co-operation in various areas in order to heal the past and look toward the future," the KAOVA leader stressed. (VNA)

Online show in support of AO victims starts

An on-line chorus programme designed to support Agent Orange/dioxin (AO) kicked off on June 17, one day before the first oral argument of a lawsuit filed by Vietnamese AO/dioxin victims is heard before the US Court of Appeals in New York.

The special show, organised by the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) and the website www.nhacso.net owned by FPT Telecom, was launched with the song “Why did you die?” written by late composer Thanh Truc and performed by singer My Le.

As many as 157,682 people registered to take part in the one-hour show and append online signatures at www.dongcavicongly.com for a petition calling for the support of the victims, said Nguyen Ngoc Long, editor-in-chief of the website.

The programme also saw the broad participation of Vietnamese nationals from 20 countries worldwide, including the US, Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

The song was also recorded in English, while its words were read in the Chinese, French, Japanese and Russian languages to help the international community understand and support the victims.

Thanh Truc composed the song in 1985 to speak of sufferings and plights of AO victims. The song was first entitled “Agent Orange” and then renamed “Why did you die?”.

In addition to the online performance, two chorus shows will be also held at Hoa Binh village and the Youth Cultural Palace in Ho Chi Minh City. The organisers are planning to produce compact discs for sales to raise funds for victims of the toxic chemical.

Four AO victims - Nguyen Thi Hong, 61, from southern Dong Nai province, Nguyen Van Quy, 52, from northern Hai Phong city, Vo Thanh Hai, 47, and Nguyen Muoi, 24, both from central Thua Thien-Hue province are now in the US to be present for the opening salvos of the case.

According to the VAVA, around 4.8 million Vietnamese people have been exposed to the dioxin with over 3 million of them eventually succumbing to the noxious chemicals. (VNA)