Canberra, Oct 27 (IANS): Specialised officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have been deployed to communities across the country to fight rising human trafficking and exploitation.

The AFP on Sunday said that the new Human Exploitation Community Officers (HECOs) will deliver targeted education to vulnerable communities to prevent human trafficking and online child sexual exploitation, reports Xinhua news agency.

There were 382 instances of human trafficking -- including slavery, forced marriage, servitude, and forced labour -- reported to the AFP in the 2023-24 financial year, which ended on June 30, up from 340 in 2022-23.

Reports of online child sexual exploitation to the AFP-led Australian Center to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) surpassed 58,500 in 2023-24 compared to 40,232 in 2022-23.

AFP Commander Helen Schneider said that the rollout of the HECOs, which began in 2023, represents a significant boost to the AFP's ability to protect Australians from exploitation.

"This capability provides an important opportunity for law enforcement to intervene to protect potential victims and to prevent criminal offending from occurring, and we know that education is key," she said in a statement.

"These officers are engaged with these high-risk and vulnerable communities. We know that victims or potential victims of human trafficking and slavery offences may not actually understand the crimes that have been committed against them, or they may not even identify as victims."

A 48-year-old woman was in July sentenced to three years in prison in the state of Victoria for her role in orchestrating the 2019 forced marriage of her daughter to a man who later murdered her, marking the first conviction for forced marriage in Australian history.