(VOVworld) - The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) has called on the Human Rights Council to protect the right to life of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims, at the current 20th session of this UN organisation.

Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Rinh, President of the Vietnamese Association for Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA) which represents more than 3 million Vietnamese AO victims, was present at the event. IADL President Jeanne Mirer told hundreds of delegates from UN member countries that during the war in Vietnam in the later half of the 20th century, the US launched chemical warfare, the largest and longest in the history of mankind, by spraying about 80 million litres of toxic herbicides, referred to as Agent Orange. These chemicals contained between 366 and 600kg of dioxin, considered one the most dangerous toxin ever known. Agent Orange left nearly 3 million Vietnamese afflicted with one or several kinds of dangerous diseases, including children of the second or third generations born with severe deformities.

Mirer told the session that while recognizing and compensating the US veterans with Agent Orange connected diseases, the US government ignores the demand of the Vietnamese victims to admit their responsibility. Many of the victims are nearing the end of their lives and she asked the Human Rights Council to act immediately.