In response to: Human Rights and Child Labor

            I am writing in response to Venna’s article and her organization for the advocacy of child labor laws. Because this topic is more sensitive as it concerns children rights and their protection of entering the workforce at an early age. Something that I find very effective at catering to children in India who are found working at an early age is the fact that they are tracked towards an education path. In essence, RIDE provides children with the tools to receive at least a basic education instead of having to going the workforce. This is proven to be more effective because encouraging education can help break the cycle of poverty within generations. I agree with RIDE and the idea that there should be regulated policy to ensure that children have adequate access to resources and are not exposed to extensive labor especially not at an early age.

            Furthermore Venna analyzes how effective letter writing can be to such a crucial issue. With that said, I argue that when dealing with human rights movements and demonstrations, letter writing is very limited and can be lost under the bureaucracy of a given institution. For example, sending letters or petitions for better child labor protection policies, can easily be ignored by delegates. Aside from being ignored, there are many transparency issues that can happen with simply writing a letter. As history shows, individuals must come together in solidarity for a common cause. It is through social cohesion and peaceful demonstrations that usually captivates the attentions of many leaders and will overall influence the development of protection policies for child laborers. I agree on Veena’s analyses of the article and the questions that arose like who effective the attempts to fighting this issue have been. Her organization and the fact that it tackles this issue by also providing children with the necessary agency to indulge in education is very important as a poverty alleviation strategy.