Bringing the War Home Justice for Vietnam's Agent Orange Victims

• Published in: Peacework (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 34; no. 379; p. 10
• Main Author: Ratner, Merle
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge American Friends Service Committee, Inc 01.10.2007
• Subjects: Agent Orange; Casualties; Hong, Nguyen Thi; Justice; Quy, Nguyen Van; Veterans; Vietnam War
• ISSN: 0748-0725

Our campaign is not a permanent organization - it will exist until we fulfill our goals of gaining justice and compensation for Agent Orange victims. And we intend to achieve these goals. We will not be content with promises to study the issue, unfulfilled commitments, or empty excuses. As we grow, we do so with the memory of our dear sister [Nguyen Thi Hong] and brother [Nguyen Van Quy], and with the memory of our board member Joan Duffy, a Vietnam veteran nurse who died of Agent Orange-related breast cancer late last year. We will do our best to draw from their exam pie of courage, dedication, and hard work. As Peacework was going to press, we received word that [David Cline], a founder and leader of VAORRC who led a delegation from the US to a conference of Agent Orange survivors in Vietnam, died on September 15, 2007. We mourn his passing, and will carry on his determination to wage peace with justice. The dioxin in Agent Orange lodges in the genetic material and continues to affect children born decades after the war. An estimated 50,000 children with deformities have been born to Vietnamese parents exposed to Agent Orange, who are 2.2 times more likely than non-exposed parents to have a child with a deformity. Agent Orange is an environmental disaster for Vietnam - dioxin still contaminates the soil and natural environment in "hot spots" in central and south Vietnam. In 2004, Vietnamese victims filed a lawsuit against the manufacturers of Agent Orange in federal court. The organization representing more than 3 million victims, the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin ("VAVA") is taking the lead in mobilizing Vietnamese and international support for justice and compensation for the victims. The Vietnamese government is already giving stipends to all those affected, but much more is needed.