A concert was held in Paris on November 22 to raise funds for Agent Orange/dioxin victims at Hanoi’s Van Canh Peace Village. The Divertimento orchestra treated the audience to classical music composed by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.Addressing the event, President of the French Republic's Association of War Veterans and Victims (ARAC), Raphael Vahe, who is also President of the French Friendship Committee for Van Canh Peace Village, emphasized that 40 years after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords the war lingers on with Agent Orange/dioxin seriously affecting many generations in Vietnam.
Van Canh Peace Village, built to care for AO victims in Vietnam, is a meeting place for many researchers who have come to learn about the serious consequences caused by the chemicals. With more investment needed for infrastructure construction, ARAC has called upon the people of France for help.Vietnamese Ambassador to France, Duong Chi Dung, sincerely thanked the French people and ARAC for their generous assistance to AO victims in Vietnam.All proceeds from the concert will be sent directly to Van Canh Peace Village.In recent years, ARAC has organised a number of activities to support AO victims in Vietnam. In 2009, it worked with the International Association of Democratic Lawyers to establish the International People's Tribunal of Conscience for Vietnamese AO victims.(vietnamplus.vn Nov 23)
