The WPC is underlining 56 years from the start of the dirty imperialist war of the USA against the Vietnamese people the need for comprehensive and overall compensation of the victims of the toxic ‘Agent Orange’, their relief and overall support. The US administrations all these years never acknowledged their heavy responsibility towards a people and a country which fought with dignity for its freedom and the right to determine alone its fortunes.

As for bombs and ammunition alone, the USA dropped over Vietnam about 14 million tons of all kinds of bombs (while another 3 million tons in Laos). This is twice as large as the total tonnage of all bombs and ammunition dropped in the World War II , and equivalent to total power of two hundred  atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now, 42 years after the war, there are , everyday unexploded ordinances still kill an average of 1500 Vietnamese a year (and 300 Laotian people). Most of these victims are mountainous people and children.

42 years after the end of the US war in Vietnam the consequences of war are still visible at thousands of children being born with mental diseases and birth defects. This shameful chapter, the use of the chemical dioxin by the USA continues to poison Vietnam and the people exposed to the chemicals. The deadly mark left by ‘Agent Orange’ on the natural environment of Vietnam includes the destruction of mangrove forests and the long-term poisoning of soil especially in the known “hot spots” near former U.S. military bases.

The WPC expresses its full-hearted solidarity to the Vietnamese people and in particular with the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA), and demands the recognition of the responsibility by the US administration and the necessary steps and measures to support the victims and their the families.
We call upon our members and friends in the world, not to give up raising and fighting for this just matter of the Vietnamese people, which fought heroically and defeated the US imperialist aggression in 1975.
 
10th August 2017   The Secretariat of WPC