News Centre

Editor’s note: Audio grabs from AFP Commander Helen Schneider are available via Hightail

AFP victim identification specialists have identified 229 Australian victims of online child sexual abuse in the past financial year (2023-24).

The victims identified in the past financial year have been located in every state and territory in Australia, with the exception of the ACT, showing that online child abuse impacts the entire Australian community.

As part of National Child Protection Week, the AFP is showcasing the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) victim identification specialists who scour millions of files of seized child abuse material in search for clues about the identity and locations of child abuse victims and offenders.

The team of investigators identify, assess, and analyse material depicting hundreds of victims of child abuse each year, with their work playing a significant role in dozens of AFP child protection operations, as well as contributing to the investigations of state and territory police and international law enforcement.

The AFP’s victim identification capability is the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere and one of the largest in the world, with members located in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

The victim identification specialists have a vital role in providing child protection investigators with crucial clues which lead to victims of sexual abuse being removed from further harm and offenders being identified and charged.

Since the establishment of the ACCCE, the AFP has also coordinated six victim identification taskforces, bringing together victim identification specialists from across the world to identify victims of online child sexual abuse.

The AFP’s victim identification specialists have played a key role in significant child protection operations such as Operation Molto, which led to 100 Australians being charged with child abuse offences and Operation Bakis, in which the AFP-led ACCCE worked with Australian and international partners to dismantle a sophisticated child abuse network.

These investigators analyse vision, images and audio files reported to the AFP or seized during investigations to help identify victims of abuse and the offenders responsible for the abuse.

They look for clues such as clothing, furniture and other items to help determine geographic locations.

Investigators who join this highly skilled team are a mixture of sworn and unsworn officers, combining their skills to help protect children online.

AFP Commander Helen Schneider said victim identification specialists relied on a variety of complex and sophisticated law enforcement methods and techniques to identify victims and offenders.

“There is no set formula for identifying victims or their abusers, and each investigation is different,” Commander Schneider said.

“The team’s success relies on painstaking attention to detail – the smallest clue in a single image or frame of a video can lead to a breakthrough in an investigation and help find a victim.

“Our investigators are proud to play a role in protecting children online and bringing perpetrators to justice, breaking the cycle of abuse.”

The AFP and its partners are committed to stopping online child sexual exploitation, and the ACCCE is driving a collaborative national approach to combatting child abuse.

The ACCCE brings together specialist expertise and skills in a central hub, supporting investigations into online child sexual exploitation and developing prevention strategies focused on creating a safer online environment.

Members of the public who have information about people involved in online child sexual exploitation are urged to contact the ACCCE. If you know abuse is happening right now or a child is at risk, call police immediately on Triple Zero (000).

If you or someone you know is impacted by child sexual abuse and online exploitation, support services are available.

For more information on the role of the ACCCE, what is online child sexual exploitation and how to report it visit the ACCCE website.

Note to media

Use of term 'CHILD ABUSE' MATERIAL not ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’

The correct legal term is Child Abuse Material – the move to this wording was among amendments to Commonwealth legislation in 2019 to more accurately reflect the gravity of the crimes and the harm inflicted on victims.

Use of the phrase ‘child pornography’ is inaccurate and benefits child sex abusers because it:

• indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and
• conjures images of children posing in 'provocative' positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.

Every photograph or video captures an actual situation where a child has been abused.