Australia's top law enforcement agency has warned of a surge in human trafficking as international borders reopen.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) on Wednesday urged Australians to be aware of the signs of human trafficking as the number of people travelling in and out of the country increases.
AFP Detective Superintendent Jayne Crossling said the range of purposes that people are trafficked for, including servitude, forced marriage and sexual slavery makes it a difficult crime to police. "The victim doesn't have to present as if they're in shackles. There are so many other ways (offenders) can coerce them and make them feel like they can't get away," she told Nine Entertainment newspapers.
"It's about exploiting those vulnerabilities. In many instances, it's hiding in the domestic setting, and there are ways in which the perpetrator is able to hide that particular behavior," she said. "We absolutely feel like there isn't enough awareness of (the crime) out there, but also (there are) people who are unaware they are victims of a human trafficking offence. The first step is we have to make that victim safe. We just need to know about them in the first place," she said.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2020 published its fifth global report on trafficking in persons.
It found that 50 percent of trafficked people in 2018 were adult women and one third was children.
The report warned that the Covid-19 pandemic was likely to increase trafficking in persons around the world.
In Australia, reports of human trafficking to the AFP have tripled from 70 in 2013-14 to 224 in 2020-21.
Any Australian convicted of human trafficking faces up to 12 years in prison.
