Belgium-Vietnam Association supports AO victims
At the
event, held on October 18 at the European Parliament (EP),
representatives from the friendship associations with Vietnam from
France, Germany, Hungary, Poland as well as the European Left,
emphasised the severe and long lasting impacts caused by the defoliant
on the Vietnamese environment and people.
They recalled their
meetings with the AO victims who are taken care of in Hanoi, saying
these lives serve as the grounds for proving the long-term devastating
effects of the chemical.
The BVFA issued a resolution on dioxin
issue, asking the European Commission and the EP to make fact-finding
tours of Vietnam and take actions to support AO/dioxin victims. The
resolution will be submitted to the EP.
In November 2011, a
European Parliamentarian group submitted to the EP a draft resolution
asking the EU organisations, the EC and the EP itself to take concrete
actions assisting Vietnam in dealing with AO consequences.
From
1961-1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 million litres of herbicides -
44 million litres of which were AO that contained nearly 370kg of
dioxin - over southern Vietnam.
As a result, around 3.5–4
million Vietnamese people were exposed to AO/dioxin. Many of the victims
have died, while millions of their descendants are living with
deformities and diseases due to the effects of AO.
The Aspen Institute, a partner in the Vietnam-US Dialogue Group on Agent
Orange/Dioxin, estimates that Vietnam needs around 410 million USD to
deal with the consequences of the toxic dioxin in the 2012–2017
period.-VNA