Activities to mark 60th Vietnam AO/Dioxin disaster day
The Central Committee of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) held a press conference in Hanoi on June 24 to announce a series of activities to be held to mark the 60th anniversary of the Vietnam AO/Dioxin disaster day (August 10, 1961-2021).
Wheelchairs presented to AO/dioxin victims in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The Central Committee of the VietnamAssociation of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) held a press conference inHanoi on June 24 to announce a series of activities to be held to mark the 60th anniversary of the Vietnam AO/Dioxin disaster day (August 10, 1961-2021).
At the event, VAVA Chairman Nguyen Van Rinh said a number ofkey events will run in the capital city, including a congress of 300 delegates tohonour outstanding supporters of the AO/dioxin victims during 2016 – 2021; and aninternational seminar on AO/dioxin related illnesses.
A meeting with the participation of between 300 and 500people will be held to show the serious consequences of chemicals on the human healthand environment as well as Vietnam’s efforts in addressing such consequences,and will call for domestic and international support toward the AO community.
The activities will also feature an exhibition,an award ceremony of a VAVA-initiated writing contest, and a text messagecampaign to raise fund for the victims.
The VAVA central committee said these events will take placevirtually or physically in a limited scale in line with pandemic-preventionregulations.
From 1961-1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 millionlitres of herbicides - 44 million litres of which were AO containing nearly370 kilograms of dioxin - over southern Vietnam.
As a result, around 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed tothe toxic chemical. Many of the victims have died, while millions of theirdescendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of thechemical’s effects./.
Vietnam supports Agent Orange/dioxin victims in requesting legal responsibilities from US companies producing and selling the toxic chemical used during the war in Vietnam, stated Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang on February 4 while commenting on a French court’s acceptance of the lawsuit filed by Tran To Nga, a French Vietnamese, against 14 US chemical companies.
An exhibition highlighting the pain of Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims and the lawsuit filed by Tran To Nga, a Vietnamese French woman, against multinational companies for producing and selling chemical toxins sprayed by US forces in the war in Vietnam, is being held in Ho Chi Minh City from May 8-13.
Participants in a May 8 roundtable talk, including Vietnamese-French woman Tran To Nga, who is pursuing a lawsuit against the US companies that provided the chemical toxins used by the US army during the war in Vietnam, affirmed the resolve to continue the fight for justice for Agent Orange (AO)/ dioxin victims of Vietnam regardless of the court’s rulings.
The German Communist Party (DKP) on May 10 issued a statement expressing its support for the lawsuit lodged by Vietnamese French Tran To Nga and Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims against 14 multinational chemical groups.
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Wheelchairs presented to AO/dioxin victims in Hanoi (Photo: VNA) 
