Federal police are investigating a record number of human trafficking cases in Australia, involving sex slavery, forced marriages and child brides.
The number of active investigations into human trafficking has doubled in the past two years to 60. Despite the increase, police warn trafficking crimes remain grossly under-reported.
The AFP have revealed they were uncovering more cases of trafficking that are related to forced marriages. Police had more than 20 active investigations into alleged forced marriages, with 18 cases involving women aged under 18.
Superintendent Matt Warren said these "child bride" cases were "a significant concern" for the AFP and mostly involved ethnic communities where arranged marriage was "very entrenched".
"We are talking about females being forced into marriage. They are vulnerable, they are young," Mr Warren said.
The AFP believed the increase in cases of human trafficking was due to the police's focus on attacking trafficking syndicates and changes in laws that allowed for the prosecution of those who arranged forced marriages.
But federal police warn that because of the fear and culture of silence confronting trafficking victims, it was likely many cases were never reported.
Successful prosecutions for human trafficking remain difficult to achieve because victims were often reluctant witnesses.
The AFP was concentrating on disrupting syndicates, with some operations taking years due to the reluctance of witnesses to come forward.
Last year, the AFP arrested members of a human trafficking syndicate that was suspected of trafficking women into Victoria from Asia for a decade.
Cancelling the legal brothel licences held by suspected traffickers who had not been charged or convicted also remained a challenge, with one prominent Asian brothel madam and alleged trafficking syndicate member, Lin Gao, still managing at least one Victorian brothel.
