International lawyers demand US compensate Vietnam The International Association of Democratic Lawyers has launched a campaign demanding compensation from US authorities for the consequences of their actions in Vietnam during the war. The International Association of Democratic Lawyers held its 15th conference in Havana, Cuba in the presence of nearly 1,000 representatives of 50 countries. The five-day conference ended on October 20 with the release of resolutions on various issues, including the demand that US authorities compensate Vietnam. Vietnam was represented at the conference by a delegation headed by Luu Van Dat, vice president and general secretary of the Vietnam Lawyers' Association. The Vietnamese delegate gave the participants a detailed assessment of the effects of Agent Orange sprayed by the US in Vietnam during the war. He urged the US government to help Vietnam overcome the after effects of Agent Orange and to compensate those Vietnamese people affected by the poisonous chemical, just as it did for US veterans who suffered after exposure to the spray. Vietnamese lawyers also raised their voices against the abuse of embargo as a political weapon to lay pressure on some sovereign countries. They reaffirmed that human rights were fundamental to the language of international law and that no force in the world could use human rights as a pretext to violate human rights. (VNA)
