Some participants in the roundtable talk in HCM City on May 8 (Photo: VNA) The talk in Ho Chi Minh City was among activities of aproject calling for support for Nga’s legal action. She attended the event from France via videoconferencing.
After the lawsuit against theUS chemical companies filed by the Vietnam Association for Victims of AO (VAVA)in 2004 had not ended with a desired result, Nga, born in 1942, sued these firms in the Crown Court of France’s Evry city in 2014.
The court opened a hearingon this case on January 25 this year and is expected to issue the verdict on May10.
Nga graduated from a Hanoiuniversity in 1966 and became a war correspondent of the Liberation NewsAgency. She worked in some of the most heavilyAO/dioxin affected areas in southern Vietnam, such as Cu Chi, Ben Cat, andalong the Ho Chi Minh Trail, ultimately experiencing contamination herself.
Of her three children, the first died of heartdefects and the second suffers from a blood disease. She has also contracted anumber of acute diseases.
With the support of severalnon-governmental organisations, she accused the companies of causing lastingharm to the health of herself, her children, and countless others, and ofdestroying the environment.
Talking viavideoconference, Nga, who is currently in France, said regardless of therulings to be issued by the court, the 10-year struggle will still continue,noting that she and her friends have been prepared to keep going for many moreyears.
The strength of justice andthe truth will win, she stated.
Used to be a plaintiff inthe VAVA’s 2004 lawsuit in the US, VAVA Vice President Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuongsaid though the previous lawsuit did not come to a success, it has left a great impact on the people in the US and the world as a whole.
The fight for justice willcontinue, she went on, expressing her belief in final victory. She stressed that this is a historiclawsuit and its win will become a legal precedent for AO/dioxin victims inVietnam and other countries to seek justice for themselves.
Truong Trong Nghia, ViceChairman of the Vietnam Bar Federation, pointed out that compared to the 2004lawsuit in the US, Nga’s lawsuit has certain advantages, elaborating that the Frenchcourt on January 25 announced that it has the power and legal ground to dealwith this case.
Besides, a recent lawsuit againsta chemical company filed by a farm worker who was exposed to herbicide inFrance ended in the worker’s favour. This precedent is favourable for Nga’scase.
People in France alsosupport and hope that Nga will win in her lawsuit, Nghia added.
Ton Nu Thi Ninh, VicePresident of the Vietnam Peace Committee and President of the HCM City Peaceand Development Foundation, stressed the must for persistence since the purposeis not only to seek compensation but also to force the US side to admit the truthand its responsibility.
So far, more than 4 millionVietnamese people have been exposed to AO/dioxin while 100,000 children havesuffered from deformities. The AO causes lasting harms to humans and theenvironment. Scientists found that this substance not only affects the onesexposed to it but also many following generations, depending on itsconcentration in the body, according to Vu Thi Quyen, a lecturer in biology atthe Van Lang University./.
VNA
