[catdoghorse]

Yep, unfortunately there is a whole set of non-profits/NGOs that are financially incented (their budget/survival & salaries depend on it) to inflate the problem to ludicrous scale. Yes, there is definitely an child enslavement / underage prostitution problem - and one even one child suffering like this is too many, but when they lie about the scale of the problem, they lose me. Using lies as their platform destroys their credibility. If their motivations are genuine, then they should be transparent and completely honest.

These articles always have some anecdotal stories to tug at our heartstrings (as children suffering should make us sad about how evil some humans can be), but they always blatantly refuse to provide accurate statistics and lead us on to believe that problem is massive.

For example, they give credence to a completely made up number in the article that a responsible journalist would never cite: "Some campaigners believe that up to 100,000 children like MA are exploited for profit across the country every year." - especially when they can find real statistics (see links below).

Read these articles for fact-based reporting on this subject:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/...

https://www.villagevoice.com/2011/06/29/real-men-get-their-f...

http://www.politifact.com/ohio/statements/2016/jun/10/joyce-...

(edited for formatting)