HANOI—This month marks 65 years since the United States first began spraying the chemical weapon known as Agent Orange over Vietnam. More than six decades later, its devastating effects continue to be felt by millions of people across Southeast Asia, making it one of the longest-lasting legacies of the U.S. war against Vietnam.
The significance of this anniversary was highlighted at the annual commemoration organized by the Vietnamese Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA). Each year, the event is broadcast nationally to increase awareness of the continuing struggle faced by Agent Orange victims and to raise funds for their care.
This year’s ceremony recognized not only the victims but also those who have dedicated themselves to supporting them. VAVA was awarded Vietnam’s Second Class Labor Medal in recognition of its decades of work caring for people affected by Agent Orange and dioxin poisoning. The event brought together Vietnamese officials, advocates, donors, and international friends of the organization.
Noticeably absent, however, for the second consecutive year, was any representative of the United States Embassy.
That absence stood in sharp contrast to the scale of the humanitarian work being carried out by VAVA. Over the past year alone, the organization began construction on nearly 3,000 homes for Agent Orange victims and their families. It also continues to operate care centers across Vietnam for those whose medical and developmental needs go far beyond what individual families can provide on their own.
While this work is essential, it addresses only the consequences of a tragedy whose responsibility remains unresolved.
VAVA works closely with organizations and activists around the world, including the Communist Party USA, the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign, and Veterans For Peace, to raise awareness of the continuing human cost of Agent Orange and to campaign for justice for its victims in both Vietnam and the United States.
Despite decades of advocacy, the U.S. government has limited its response almost exclusively to environmental remediation projects, such as cleaning dioxin-contaminated former military bases. While these cleanup efforts are important and are rightfully celebrated in Vietnam, Washington has continued to refuse to provide meaningful assistance or compensation to the millions of human victims of its chemical warfare.
The corporations that manufactured Agent Orange have likewise escaped accountability.
For years, U.S. courts have protected companies such as Dow Chemical and Monsanto from legal responsibility, accepting the argument that because they produced Agent Orange under contract for the U.S. government during wartime, they are shielded from civil lawsuits. As a result, victims have repeatedly been denied their day in court.
Until her recent retirement, former Rep. Barbara Lee was among the strongest voices in Congress advocating for justice for Agent Orange victims. Throughout her time in office, she repeatedly introduced legislation that would have provided assistance not only to victims in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, but also to affected communities within the United States, including U.S. veterans and their families. Those efforts never became law, and with the current political balance in Washington, the legislative path toward justice has all but been shut.
But all hope is not lost.
Since 2014, Tran To Nga—a Vietnamese survivor of Agent Orange who is now a French citizen—has pursued an alternative path to justice by bringing a lawsuit in France against the French subsidiaries of several companies that manufactured Agent Orange.
Her case seeks to bypass the protections afforded to those companies in U.S. courts. Although the lower French courts dismissed her claims, they did so on jurisdictional grounds rather than by examining the evidence surrounding the production and use of Agent Orange.
Now, the case has reached a critical turning point.
On July 8, France’s Court of Cassation decided to refer Tran To Nga’s appeal to the Assemblée plénière, the court’s full assembly and highest judicial formation. The decision does not determine the outcome of the lawsuit, but it recognizes that the legal questions involved are of exceptional importance.
Tran’s legal team argues that while the companies fulfilled contracts for the U.S. government, they remained private corporations operating for profit. As commercial entities, they should not be allowed to claim the sovereign immunity of the U.S. government to shield themselves from accountability for the consequences of their products.
Especially encouraging is that the Advocate General of the Court of Cassation has recommended that the lower courts’ rulings be overturned and that the companies’ claims to judicial immunity be rejected.
The appeals process is expected to take another six to twelve months. Should the court rule in Tran’s favor, it would not end the struggle for justice. Instead, it would finally allow the case to proceed on its merits and open the possibility that, for the first time, the manufacturers of Agent Orange could be held legally accountable.
Should that happen, it would represent the most significant breakthrough in the decades-long campaign for justice.
The need for that justice has never disappeared. Across Vietnam, an estimated three to four million people continue to suffer the consequences of Agent Orange and dioxin exposure. In neighboring Laos, hundreds of thousands more have been affected. Children continue to be born with severe disabilities linked to wartime contamination, with fourth-generation victims now being documented in some families.
Sixty-five years after the first spraying missions, the war’s chemical legacy remains a living reality. The United States government and the corporations that produced these poisons have yet to accept responsibility for the human suffering they helped create. Environmental cleanup alone is not enough. The victims deserve recognition, meaningful assistance, and justice.
As Vietnam commemorates another anniversary of the beginning of the Agent Orange campaign, the world should remember that this is not merely a story of history. It is a story that continues every day in the lives of millions of people still waiting for accountability.
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