Vietnam Asks Monsanto to Take Responsibility for War Sequels

Prensa Latina, April 20, 2017

Vietnam reaffirmed today that the US companies involved and Monsanto, in particular, must take responsibility for supporting efforts to address the consequences of the agent orange/dioxin spread in this country during the war.

That position was reportedly expressed by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang referring to the findings of the International Monsanto Tribunal in The Hague, stating that the transnational corporation destroyed the ecosystem and caused losses to the Vietnamese people during the Pentagon’s aggression.

She added that Vietnam welcomes the ruling on Tuesday and stressed that the damage to the environment constitutes a severe objective sequel of the war, especially by the impact of the aforementioned toxicant used by the US military.

She also called on Monsanto to respect the Tribunal’s consultations and recommendations and to take prompt action to resolve the consequences of that compound.

The five judges of that court ruled that the multinational is guilty of ecocide, with long-term effects on ecosystems of several territories, including Vietnam.

The ruling was announced after six months of investigation and two days of testimony.

As it was known, the proposals of this body will be forwarded to the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, the Human Rights Council and the aforementioned manufacturer.

The Opinion Court, whose objective is to raise public awareness and promote compliance with the law, was held on the initiative of numerous environmental organizations, which invited, in imitation of the court in The Hague, to investigate the dossier of Monsanto, supplier of the chemical.