The AFP is providing the travel plans of convicted Australian child sex offenders to overseas policing partners as part of a range of measures to protect vulnerable children from sex predators.
The AFP-hosted INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Canberra actively shared information with foreign law enforcement partners about convicted and suspected child sex offenders on over 700 matters last financial year. This included intelligence and investigative enquiries and warnings on registered or suspected child sex offenders travelling between countries.
About 300 of these information exchanges were notifications from the AFP and INTERPOL Canberra warning of convicted Australian child sex offenders travelling overseas.
Travel details of Australians listed on the National Child Offenders System are assessed by the AFP as they pass through Australian international airports.
If they are travelling to a country identified as a potential target for predators seeking to abuse children, or to a country which has requested to be informed of the travel of convicted offenders, the AFP provides relevant details to INTERPOL for dissemination to law enforcement in the destination country.
INTERPOL Green Notices are a key mechanism used to warn global partners about serious offenders who are likely to travel, and they assist international law enforcement in protecting their communities. Green Notices cover a variety of serious criminal offences, but 94 per cent of them from Australia are related to child sex offenders.
Australia currently has over 900 active Green Notices listed with INTERPOL, which is the third-most of any country in the world.
AFP Assistant Commissioner David McLean said preventing known Australian offenders from travelling to areas favoured by predators was part of a region-wide commitment to breaking the insidious cycle of child sexual abuse.
"Law enforcement and other organisations in the region are doing a lot of good work to address reasons why children end up in these horrible situations, but this work can be undone by relatively-wealthy Australian predators seeking to pay for the opportunity to abuse a child," he said.
"We owe it to our law enforcement partners and to the children they are committed to protecting to do our part - which means using the AFP's intelligence holdings and experience to pass on information to allow our partners to make informed judgments about who they let into their country."
Australians registered on the National Child Offenders System with reporting obligations must obtain permission to travel overseas. However, the AFP may still inform INTERPOL partners of their destination, travel details and applicable details of previous offending.
Those travelling to locations historically targeted by child sex tourism offenders will face closer law enforcement scrutiny. Often they will be stopped at immigration in their destination country, refused entry and returned to Australia on the next available flight.
"This is an insidious crime type where prevention is much more important than any 'cure'. The AFP is committed to working with our regional partners through INTERPOL to combat the abuse of children anywhere in the world, through every means at our disposal," Assistant Commissioner McLean said.
The head of INTERPOL, Secretary General Jürgen Stock, praised Australia's work through INTERPOL to protect children on a global scale.
"A leading player in international police cooperation, Australia has consistently demonstrated a strong and unwavering commitment to child protection, both online and in the real world," he said.
"In addition to its confidence in INTERPOL's International Child Sexual Exploitation database, Australia is the third highest user of Green Notices, warning other countries about known serious child sex offenders."
