Statement by

the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO),

the Vietnam Peace Committee, the Vietnam Committee for

Asian, African and Latin American Solidarity and Cooperation,

the Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation

and other VUFO’s member organizations

On March the 10^th 2005, the US Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York, dismissed a lawsuit of the Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin Victims against American chemical companies that supplied US army with toxic chemicals to use in the War in Vietnam.

This is an utterly unjust and unfair decision.

The fact is that the US chemical companies supplied the US Army with a huge amount of defoliant containing highly-concentrated dioxin which has direct and long lasting effects on human beings to use in Vietnam.

The fact is that millions of Vietnamese people exposed to Agent Orange/dioxin have been suffering from deadly and incurable diseases and that their children are still born with severe birth-defects.

Those are undeniable truths.

The decision of the US Federal Court demonstrates their irresponsibility for the sufferings of millions of Agent Orange victims and their families in Vietnam and runs counter to all the standards and principles of human rights and justice, regardless the aspirations of the Vietnamese people and justice-loving people in the US and the whole world over.

The Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, the Vietnam Peace Committee, the Vietnam Committee for Asian, African and Latin American Solidarity and Cooperation, the Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation and other VUFO’s member organizations call upon people’s organizations of all countries and justice-loving people to raise their voice against the above mentioned decision by the US Federal Court and take further actions in support of Agent Orange/dioxin victims in Vietnam and their just struggle for peace and justice.