Child Labor in India: letter to official

To Dan Burton of Indiana, member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, Ranking Member.
Dear Honorable Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana,
I am writing this letter to discuss our government’ s lack of focus on child labor in international countries specifically, India. I am also displeased by the fact that our government has the necessary resource to stop, or at least hinder child labor yet little has been done to do so. Bills such as the Child Labor Deterrence Act have been introduced into Congress, but have not been passed. The Act according to the bill’s introducer “Prohibit the importation of products that have been produced by child labor and included civil and criminal penalties for violators.” Other bills have also been introduced into congress that would help child workers stay off the streets by providing them with a pension and starting programs for the children and parents and none have been passed. The government of India has set up National Child Labor Projects that are intended to provide non-formal education, vocational training, and nutrition to Indian youth that are withdrawn from employment but India needs more help from the United States to have a significant effect on India’s child labor policies. I urge Congress to pass this bill. I also would like Congress to look at child labor from a child worker’s perspective. There are 60 million child laborers in India,who are abused, tortured, and beaten because they have to work to support their family or have been sold as a means for their familes income. They are also forced to work obscene hours often from morning to night that the average American would consider absurd to work especially for a young child.
I would like to push Congress to help the children of India and free them of inhumane task , and allow them to have a complete childhood. The length of one’s childhood should not be determined by the location of their birth. The government of the United Stated of America should be helping India in their efforts to prevent child labor because it is not something that can be done alone. Starting programs to help provide jobs for the parents would gravely influence the prevention of child labor in India. Also pressuring the Indian government to strictly enforce child labor laws would help its prevention.
If we, as Americans can look upon other governments and custums and determine whether or not their actions are acceptable, then we should do something to change it. Although these children are not Americans, they are children of the world and their cries can no longer go unheard.
Sincerely, Dominque Bryant