MILLIONS of children worldwide are risk as a growing number are pulled out of school and into forced labour, including sexual exploitation, the United Nations warned today.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) director-general Gilbert Houngbo said there has been a “regression” in regions around the world amid global economic problems.

He told the BBC: “Compound the Covid effect with the rise in inflation and the cost of living that followed [and] it has just made things worse.