Justice for Victims of Agent Orange
The campaign supports the the efforts of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin and Vietnamese victims to achieve recompense for injuries resulting from Agent Orange. They campaign against the future use of chemical weapons and for research into the health effects of dioxins.
They call upon the U.S. President, Government and the Chemical Companies named as defendants in the suit, to accept their responsibilities for the damage caused by their actions and products, and to pay full compensation to the victims.
Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society, Vietnam Victims of Agent Orange Association.
Focussed on US government and chemical companies responsible for manufacturing and using Agent Orange in Vietnam.
PUBLIC APPEAL
- Call upon the world community to mobilise a long-term humanitarian program for the benefit of the victims and their families,
- Deplore the recent ruling of a U.S. court which rejected a formal complaint filed by the victims, thus refusing a proper application of international principles of responsibility which require those who commit damage to rectify the consequences,
- Anticipate that non-governmental organisations and citizens of the world will continue to support continued efforts by the victims to obtain a just solution, and will develop a large-scale movement for material and moral support to the victims,
- Request the international scientific community to conduct research on the persistence of the chemicals, their precise impact on public health, their genetic and environmental impacts, and the measures needed to ameliorate those impacts,
- Remind the world that, due to the nature and extent of the attacks on Vietnam and its people, there is a need not only for private humanitarian efforts, but also for government involvement through concerted, publicly funded scientific and practical measures,
- Emphasise that the government of the United States must be compelled to acknowledge its responsibility for the catastrophe and to accept all of the consequences,
- Encourage the national and international media to intensify their efforts to inform the public about the use of these chemical weapons and the persistence of the chemicals in the environment, the consequences of which are still not entirely understood, thirty years after the formal conclusion of the war,
- Invite all international organisations to contribute to the political, legal and humanitarian efforts needed to assist the Vietnamese people, whose everyday lives have been impaired, and whose health and environment have been severely damaged. More specifically, we request that UNESCO educate the general public of the world community about the lessons to be learned from the catastrophe of the Vietnam War,
Affirm our demand for a world of humanity, solidarity and collective vigilance in which catastrophes such as that inflicted upon Vietnam have been eliminated,
Exhort the international community to oppose all use of chemical weapons and to work for a strengthening of international law so as to ensure that they are banned and disappear from use.
Paris, March 12th 2005
Petition to the US president for justice for the victims of Agent Orange.
Email Len Aldis for more information or to get involved with the campaign.
Read full text of Appeal from the 300 delegates at the international conference, Paris. 11th & 12th March 2005.