U.S.-Vietnamese Relations
We are grateful to the Vice-President of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA), Professor and M.D. Nguyen Trong Nhan, for the following documents. The first two documents provide insight into important moments in the history of U.S.-Vietnamese relations on Agent Orange; the third points to hopes for the future.
The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange was formed at the end of 2003 in Hanoi by a group of Vietnamese doctors and others who have been advocating for more assistance to Vietnamese believed to be suffering from exposure to Agent Orange. The organization provides services to such people throughout Vietnam. VAVA has filed suit against the U.S. producers of Agent Orange on behalf of Vietnamese plaintiffs. Judge Jack Weinstein, who heard the U.S. veterans' case in 1984, dismissed the original VAVA suit in 2005, in part on the grounds of "government contractor defense," though he acknowledged that the suffering of the Vietnamese people should not go unaddressed. Lawyers for VAVA are currently petitioning the United States Supreme Court for a hearing.
Click each title to download the pdf.
Document 1: November 2000
A letter from the Vietnam Red Cross Society to President Bill Clinton, in which the Society urges that U.S. insistence on the primacy of scientific research be coupled with assistance to victims and environmental clean-up. The document includes President Clinton's response, in which he agrees with the need for scientific research and joint humanitarian efforts.
Document 2: March 2006
A statement drafted at the International Conference of Agent Orange/Dioxin Victims, sponsored by VAVA.
Document 3: December 2008
A letter from VAVA to president-elect Barack Obama, urging his attention to healing the remaining wounds of war, the suffering of the Agent Orange survivors.