VietNam Society: victims

Showing posts with label victims. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Organisations boost cooperation for AO victims

The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) and the Vietnam Association of the Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA) will strengthen campaigns for implementation of the Party and State’s policies addressing the consequences of toxic chemicals and policies for AO victims.

To this effect, an agreement was signed by VRC President Tran Ngoc Tang and VAVA leader, Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Van Rinh, in Hanoi on December 10.

Under the agreement, the partners will coordinate in expanding external activities to help the international community understand more about the harmful effects of AO/dioxin on people in Vietnam , thus giving more support to the victims.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, VAVA President Rinh said that during the last years VRC has supported millions of AO victims in many practical ways.

VAVA, for its part, has also actively mobilized support from local people and international friends in the struggle for justice, he said.

Rinh said the coordination programme between the two associations would help provide more practical and effective assistance for people affected by the toxic chemical.

The same day, the France-Vietnam Friendship Association presented 90 million VND for the VRD to build houses of gratitude for people in the flood-hit-central region./.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

First-ever requiem to be held for AO victims

The first-ever requiem for Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange/dioxin will be held in late July, 2011, marking the 50th anniversary of the catastrophe of AO defoliants sprayed by the US on Vietnam.

The event, as part of series of activities for AO victims, was announced by Nguyen Van Rinh, President of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA), at a press briefing in Hanoi on Dec. 9.

Other prominent events in 2011 will include a meeting in commemoration of the AO catastrophe on August 10, which is Day for AO Victims, and the second international conference on AO victims, which will take place on August 8 and 9.

At the briefing, Rinh told the reporters about his recent visit to the US at the invitation of the Association of Veterans for Peace and the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC).

During the trip, the VAVA officials visited San Francisco , New York and Washington to gain support from war veterans, lawyers, and scientists for the Vietnamese AO victims’ lawsuit for justice. They were received by US congressmen and representatives from the Department of State for the first time.

At these meetings, these US organisations and individuals agreed that the AO issue in Vietnam was vital and needed to be addressed and that the US government needed to pay more attention to the matter.

In the visit, VAVA and VAORRC issued a joint statement confirming that they will together work with the US government and parliament to win assistance for AO victims in both Vietnam and the US and for the work to purify dioxin “hotspots” in Vietnam .

The two organisations will speed up campaigns to raise money for the Fund for Vietnamese AO victims.

In 2010, VAVA raised 52 billion VND from individuals and organisations in and outside the country and spent over 36.5 billion VND on building houses and care centres for AO victims, as well as providing scholarships and helping victims find jobs.

According to VAVA, in the 1961-1971 period, the US troops sprayed 80 million litres of chemical defoliants containing nearly 400kg of dioxin.

As many as 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to dioxin, of whom 3 million suffer from health problems due to the exposure./.

Monday, January 17, 2011

US congressmen voice support for VN’s AO victims

A number of US congressmen have voiced support for Vietnamese Agent Orange /dioxin victims, saying the US government must places importance on dealing with the consequences of the toxic chemical.

Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment Eni F.H. Faleomavaega and congressman Bob Filner affirmed the support during meetings with a delegation of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) which paid a visit to the US from Nov. 22-Dec. 4.

Having organised three hearings on the AO/dioxin-related issue in Vietnam , Faleomavaega said he was regretful because he “had yet to do much for Vietnamese AO/dioxin victims”. The congressman also called on the governments of the US and Vietnam to jointly assume responsibility for addressing this issue.

At a working session with the VAVA delegation, headed by its President Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Van Rinh, US Department of State officials in charged for Southeast Asian affairs also affirmed the settlement of the AO/dioxin consequences in Vietnam is a priority of the department.

During the trip, the VAVA delegation and leaders of the Veterans for Peace (VFP) and the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC) discussed the coordination of activities to assist the victims in the coming time, especially on the 50 th anniversary of the beginning of the US chemical war in Vietnam (August 10, 1961-August 10, 2011).

The delegates worked with the President of the Ford Foundation and representatives of the Atlantic Philanthropies. They also met with lawyers and scientists who have devoted to the victims’ struggle for justice, as well as a number of overseas Vietnamese who have launched initiatives to enhance relations between the Us-based Vietnamese community and the homeland./.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Spanish agency helps fight human trafficking

The Vietnam Women's Union and Spain's Agency for International Development and Co-operation (AECID) on Dec. 5 launched an information campaign aimed at fighting the trafficking of women and children, in the northern border province of Lang Son.

The launching ceremony drew the participation of over 500 delegates from border provinces of Lang Son, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Bac Giang, Quang Ninh, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang and Nghe An, as well as donors and international agencies.

On this occasion, photos and documents on experiences of victims of human trafficking, as well as their process of re-integrating into the community were introduced.

Activities to help victims of human trafficking under the project Peaceful House were also introduced.

The campaign called on all sectors, agencies and the community in the country and abroad to join hands to prevent crimes of this kind and help victims.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, there were 1,949 cases of human trafficking reported occurred, involving 4,793 victims from 2004./.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Japan-VN Friendship Council member honoured

The Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) has presented an insignia “For Peace and Friendship among Nations” to Hosoya Kumiko, member of the Japan-Vietnam Council for Peace and Friendship (JVPF).

Addressing the presentation ceremony in Hanoi on Dec. 3, VUFO Vice President Tran Dac Loi thanked Kumiko for her active support to Vietnamese Agent Orange victims and disadvantaged Vietnamese children and provision of scholarships to boarding school ethnic students over the past 15 years.

Kumiko has written a diary about her visits to 29 families of AO victims and AO victims at the Peace and Friendship Villages in Hanoi and the AO Victims Rehabilitation Centres in the northern province of Thai Binh, central Da Nang city, the southern province of Tay Ninh and Tu Du Hospital in HCM City during 16 times of visiting Vietnam.

She also made a DVD recording memories of AO victims in Thai Binh province.

Kumiko said she would like to convey to younger generations of Japanese an image of the life of Vietnamese AO victims that she had witnessed with her own eyes.

She also promised to provide further assistance to the victims.

Also on this occasion, Hiramatsu Tomoko, a member of the JVPF delegation, presented a book on former Vietnamese Vice State President Nguyen Thi Binh to VUFO Vice President Loi.

The 300-page book, which was published in Japan in November 2010, praised Binh with illustrated pictures of the Japan-Vietnam friendship and the consequences of the war in Vietnam./.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Delta job seekers enslaved in southern hub

Delta job seekers enslaved in southern hub Xe om drivers around Ho Chi Minh City major bus stations have abducted youth from the Mekong Delta and sold them to people who forced them to work without wages, according to a Tuoi Tre investigation undertaken following readers' tipoffs.

The drivers operate at the Mien Tay Bus Station, where vehicles take people to and from Mekong Delta destinations, and people frequently arrive looking for jobs in the city.

N.C.K., a recent 18-year-old victim, said his family in An Giang Province was in financial trouble, so he he took a bus to HCMC on October 30 to look for his brother and ask him for help finding a job.

At the bus station, a group of xe om drivers snatched his bag with all his personal papers, money and a note of his contacts, said K. who managed to escape later.

The youth said he had begged the drivers to take him to a Vai village in the city to look for his brother.

One of the drivers “drove me for around 20 minutes and took me to a house where everyone wore tattoos. I was very scared.

“Then a woman gave him some money. Then I was brought by another person to a big house in the middle of a field. The house owner gave the driver VND300,000 ($15.40) and pulled me inside, locking the doors,” the boy said.

He said there were five other boys, similarly kidnapped in the house, working hard sorting metal scrap.

The owner was supervising the work, threatening to starve them to death whenever they paused in the work.

“One ran away yesterday and I’m looking for him. I will kill him when I get him,” K. recalled the man as saying.

But the boy still tried to escape the next night and was helped to do so by a local resident.

In September, N.V.T., 26, also from An Giang, was abducted and sold to a rice factory in District 6.

T. said: “They took my ID card and forced me to carry rice for no money day and night until I was exhausted. When I asked for the the card back to go home, they threatened to assault me.”

He managed to contact a friend on the phone who paid the factory owners money to free him.

Also in September, three young men from Kien Giang Province ended up at a leather shoe factory near Mien Tay Bus Station while in May, two others from Soc Trang Province were forced to be garbage pickers for a man in Binh Duong province, neighboring HCMC.

For each ID card of the victims they gave the boss, the xe om drivers received VND500,000 ($26).

The victims worked from dawn until late at night with stinky garbage, ate poorly and didn’t get paid, they said. They escaped after several weeks.

Many rings are operating at the station, abducting people who look naïve and confused, and taking them to metal scrap dealers, slaughterhouses or other establishments.

Some of the victims are lured with promises of well-paid jobs at shops or restaurants.

If the victims don’t agree to work, they are beaten and forced to even harder work.

The Tuoi Tre investigation found out a similar situation at the Mien Dong Bus Station, where passengers travel between the city and the central and northern regions.

It found that the ring leaders, who finally employ the victims, also have to pay commission to some officials of the bus stations.