From Vietnam Veterans Against the War, http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=1847&hilite=
Download PDF of this full issue: v41n2.pdf (26.6 MB) |
On August 8th and 9th, an international gathering of Agent Orange victims was held in Vietnam. Delegations of Agent Orange survivors from Vietnam, the United States, Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Australia, Canada and New Zealand joined with victims of other weapons of mass destruction from Japan, Iraq, Iran, India, Brazil and other countries. The conference was organized by the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, the sole representative of Vietnam's Agent Orange victims, with more than 300,000 members and chapters throughout Vietnam.
Veterans and 2nd and 3rd generation victims from across the world adopted an appeal, actively supported by VVAW, addressed to the peoples of the world to take concerted action to achieve justice for Agent Orange victims and end, once and for all, the use of weapons in violation of international law.
Appeal of the Second International Conference
of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin
Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam,
August 9th, 2011
The Second International Conference of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, held in Hanoi from August 8th to 9th, 2011 included participants from around the world: Agent Orange victims, victims of other toxic chemicals, scientists, lawyers and social activists. The conference is a significant and important historic event, marking the 50th anniversary of the first spraying of the toxic chemical Agent Orange (1961-1971) by the US forces in Vietnam and Indochina.
The delegates to the Conference agree that during the Vietnam War, from 1961 to 1971, US forces through Operation Ranch Hand sprayed nearly 80 million liters of herbicides over South Vietnam, of which 61% was Agent Orange containing at least 366kg of dioxin, the most toxic substance known to science.
Since the First International Conference of Victims of Agent Orange in 2006, there has been greater public understanding and awareness of the dangers of Agent Orange/Dioxin to humans and to the environment. More diseases have been officially recognized as being due to exposure to Agent Orange. Along with the Vietnamese people, many others around the world have become victims of this toxic weapon of mass destruction. Soldiers in the US, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand were exposed during the time they fought in Vietnam, and now their children and grandchildren are suffering as well. People in the US, Canada, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand and other areas were exposed because they lived near or worked in areas where the US forces stored, buried, manufactured, tested or experimented with Agent Orange as part of their war in Vietnam.
Because of dioxin-related damage to their endocrine, immune and reproductive systems, victims of Agent Orange suffer from multiple health conditions, some of which are quickly lethal, and others which doom people to a life of horrific misery. Due to these diseases, many have been denied the most basic of human rights — especially the right to life, and the pursuit of happiness. Because of their inability to work and bearing the costs of medical treatment, most victims of Agent Orange everywhere are very poor.
However, because Agent Orange was intentionally directed against the Vietnamese people, they are subject to the most onerous conditions. 4.8 million Vietnamese people, directly sprayed repeatedly over extended periods of time, were subject to multiple sources of exposure. The proportion of old people, women, and children, who are especially susceptible to dioxin, is particularly high in Vietnam. In Vietnam, an enormous number of children continue to be born with Agent Orange-related birth defects. Now, a fourth generation of Agent Orange victims is being born. Because of this danger, in effect, many women have been denied the human right to bear children. Agent Orange not only harmed human beings and devastated the environment of Vietnam during the war, but also continued its devastation after the war. Dioxin dumped in the soil continues to damage the environment and sicken the people in and around several "hot spots." Causing deforestation of nearly 3 million hectares of land, during the war, especially in coastal areas, Agent Orange has damaged not only the environment in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia but also the regional environment. It has and continues to have severe consequences for people in many areas of the world.
The use of Agent Orange in the war in Vietnam is a war crime and a crime against humanity. Its consequences are passed from generation to generation. It challenges us to end, once and for all, the use of chemical weapons and any weapons of mass destruction anywhere today.
Humanity's concern about the affects of chemical warfare, the threat of accidents at chemical manufacturing plants and the looming environmental disaster due to biochemical engineering is increasing. The agony of those exposed to Agent Orange is central to this consciousness and international solidarity with Agent Orange victims' struggle for justice is growing.
CALL TO ACTION
Therefore, the Delegates to the Conference hereby call for the following:
Now, fifty years since the first use of Agent Orange in Vietnam, the delegates of the conference declare again that the needs of the victims are urgent, requiring immediate action! Half a century is too long to wait for justice!
We pledge to work together to make sure that justice delayed will no longer be justice denied!
Marty Webster is a VVAW National Coordinator and a core member of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC).