Human Rights Law Centre 18/9/2026

Sep 18

3 min read

Dear Human Rights Law Centre,

I am writing following a significant change to the Australian Government’s official history of Agent Orange.

In June 2026, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs revised its Agent Orange history on the Anzac Portal. The revised account now acknowledges Australian troop exposure, the use of herbicides and insecticides by Australian troops, widespread spraying in Phuoc Tuy Province and at Nui Dat, veterans’ concerns about birth defects in their children, previous government denial of exposure, and that the Australian Government and Monsanto helped fund the defence against veterans during the Agent Orange Royal Commission.

I am the daughter of an Australian Vietnam veteran who served as a Plant Operator with the 17th Construction Squadron in Vietnam during 1969–70. I have used my family’s documentary record to pursue the broader issue of Agent Orange descendants through the OECD, United Nations and International Criminal Court.

I was the notifier in AusNCP Complaint 36 concerning Dow Inc. and Bayer AG, which concluded with a Final Statement on 22 May 2026.

Australia has also already studied Vietnam veterans’ children through the Vietnam Veterans Family Study. That research, including the study of veterans’ sons and daughters, was formally placed into evidence multiple times during the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

Internationally, I have included UN material concerning toxic remnants of war, including the Special Rapporteur’s 2025 report Military activities and toxics, together with material concerning conflicts of interest and the manufacture of scientific doubt. I have also included recent peer-reviewed research examining birth defects, developmental disabilities and reproductive outcomes in relation to Vietnam service and dioxin exposure.

I am asking whether the combined record — the Commonwealth’s revised Agent Orange history, Australian Government research concerning veterans’ children, the Royal Commission evidentiary record, AusNCP Complaint 36, contemporary scientific research and developing international human-rights work concerning toxic remnants of war — raises a systemic human-rights issue concerning Agent Orange descendants that warrants strategic legal examination.

My own Life Experience paper is included because it provides the chronology connecting these otherwise separate institutional records.

My family’s documents are the evidentiary case study; the question I am raising is broader than my family.

I was born with documented structural abnormalities of my spine and pelvis and now live with significant chronic physical and neurological conditions. I have attached a brief medical summary as supporting documentation.

I would be grateful if the Human Rights Law Centre would consider whether this material warrants preliminary assessment, particularly in relation to recognition, investigation, accountability and effective remedy for Agent Orange descendants.

Warm Agent Orange Burns regards,

Danielle Stevens (née Pitcher)

Geneva AP1 Article 77

Source links

Department of Veterans’ Affairs — Agent Orange and other chemicals in the Vietnam War

https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/vietnam-war/home/agent-orange

AusNCP Complaint 36 — Dow Inc. and Bayer AG

https://ausncp.gov.au/complaints/complaint-36

AusNCP Complaint 36 — Final Statement, 22 May 2026

https://ausncp.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-05/complaint-36-final-statement.pdf

Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide — 23 June 2022, Vietnam Veterans Family Study evidence

https://defenceveteransuicide.royalcommission.gov.au/hearings/day-4-townsville-23-june-2022