Millions of Vietnamese are victims of Agent Orange and dioxin used by the US army during the Vietnam War and should be supported to win the fight for justice, officials said during a conference in Hanoi on August 8.

Tang Thi Thang baths her disabled son Doan Van Quy outside their family home in Vietnam's Quang Binh Province. Photo: Reuters

Addressing at the event, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said that domestic assistance for the victims remains modest despite many efforts.

“We hope to win justice for all AO/Dioxin victims, including Vietnamese,” he said.

Vietnam had conducted activities to assist victims while calling on the international community, countries, organizations and inpiduals at home and abroad to join efforts in overcoming the consequences of the toxic chemical sprayed by the US during the war, he said.

The conference was held on the 55th anniversary of Vietnam’s Day for Agent Orange Victims. It was attended by former Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama, local and foreign scientists, ambassadors and representatives of international organizations in Vietnam.

The participants proposed countermeasures and called for more material and spiritual support for AO victims, as well as public backing for their fight for justice.

They said that a lot is still to be done to deal with the consequences of AO/dioxin in Vietnam, stressing the need to use suitable technologies to decontaminate areas with high dioxin concentrations and minimize the number of people still being exposed to dioxin.

The most important task was to complete policies on caring for and supporting AO victims, they said, adding that all tasks required great endeavours by Vietnam and the international community.

From 1961- 1971, the US army sprayed around 80 million liters of defoliants, 61 percent of which were dioxin, on nearly 26,000 Vietnamese neighborhoods of over three million of hectares in the decade between 1961 and 1971. That was an "unprecedented disaster in human history," Dam said.

On average, each Vietnamese suffered from nearly three liters of dioxin and an amount of bombs and mines nearly ten times of their weight.

The Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) reported that around 4.8 million Vietnamese were directly exposed to the deadly chemical substance.

Among them three million have showed and suffered from dioxin-related disabilities and conditions. The number does not include children of those directly exposed./.

Ha Thuong