Belgium-Vietnam Friendship Association supports AO victims
(VOV) - The Belgium-Vietnam Friendship Association (BVFA) convened a European Parliament (EP) on October 18 to discuss dealing with the US military’s poisonous Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin legacy left after its war in Vietnam.
Representatives from French, German, Hungarian, Polish, Danish, and Vietnamese friendship associations, as well as the European Left, emphasised the severe and long lasting impacts caused by these chemicals on the Vietnamese environment and people.
Delegates cited their recent visits to and meetings with AO victims in Hanoi as proof of the damage the spraying campaigns wrought.
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In November 2011, a European Parliamentarian group submitted a draft resolution asking EU organisations, the European Council, and the EP itself to actively assist Vietnam in dealing with their consequences.
The BVFA issued another resolution on dioxin, asking the EC and EP to conduct fact-finding tours of Vietnam. The association wants institutional representatives to witness AO/dioxin’s consequences themselves.
The seminar in Brussels also discussed the France-Vietnam Friendship Association’s struggle for justice on behalf of AO victims.
The BVFA resolution will be submitted to the EP.
The US sprayed 77 litres of dioxin during its war in Vietnam, affecting nearly 2.6 million hectares of land and five million people.