1.7m children involved in commercial sexual exploitation worldwide - BBC News

Growing numbers of children globally are being pulled out of school and into work, the head of the UN's labour body has told the BBC, putting their futures at risk.

It comes as economic problems hit families around the world.

The world is at a “critical moment” when it comes to child labour, says Gilbert Houngbo, head of the International Labour Organization.

He tells the BBC the Covid pandemic led to an increase in children being put to work and that economic problems, including the rising cost of living, have now added to the problem. At its worst, he says children are being put into jobs where they are sexually exploited.

In the first of a series on the impact on children of the global cost of living crisis, Barbara Plett Usher reports from Kenya about the growing number of children pushed into the sex trade.