More than 30,000 children in Kenya are involved in commercial sex and a further 300,000 employed as domestic laborers, an International Labour Organization (ILO) report on child labour has revealed.

Speaking in Kisumu during a Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) child labour workshop, the Programmes officer, Norbert Oloo said high levels of poverty and the problem of orphans were some of the push factors that have continued to escalate the state of child labour in the country.

Oloo added that COTU was planning to involve child employers in their strategic planning and activities to help reduce the problem of child employment.

The Programmes officer also urged the media to play its role as the watchdog by exposing and reporting on issues related to child labour as this would help in creating awareness and educating the public on the ills of the practice.

According to ILO, an estimated 186 million children worldwide are engaged in worst forms of labour with 23% of them in Africa.

Here in Kenya, 3.4 million children are currently involved in child labour, with 53% of them being boys while 47% are girls.