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Drawing on multi-method research, this article demonstrates that the risks of large-scale trafficking due to the war in Ukraine were mitigated by granting Ukrainians more extensive rights than typically afforded to refugees. This shows the advantages of rights-based approaches to migration and labour exploitation. We draw on Bakhtin’s and Žižek’s work on the carnivalesque to argue that mainstream anti-trafficking initiatives—which are depoliticised and able to win support and funding from across the political spectrum—often serve merely as theatrical and distracting sideshows diverting attention from more impactful activities and the normalised exploitation within capitalism. However, avoiding trafficking is insufficient if Ukrainian citizens and residents still endure exploitative conditions. A weakened legal framework for workers’ rights within Ukraine alongside inadequate labour protections across Europe have facilitated such exploitation. In contrast to the depoliticised stance of the anti-trafficking industry, this article concludes that more explicitly political actions supporting migrants’ rights, workers’ rights, and access to welfare and public services will not only more effectively challenge trafficking but also prevent other exploitation of migrants.

This article provides a summary of research undertaken to investigate public awareness and understanding of human trafficking in Great Britain, Hungary and Ukraine. Responding to the lack of reliable empirical data on this issue, the research relies on representative national opinion surveys to assess the extent of public awareness of what constitutes human trafficking, the sources of knowledge underpinning this awareness, and respondents’ attitudes towards key dimensions of human trafficking as embedded in international and respective national legal and policy frameworks and discourses. Conceptually, this article reinforces recent calls for policy and media paradigm shifts from understanding human trafficking as a phenomenon of crime and victimhood, to, above all, a human rights concern linked to the broader issues of sustainable development and social justice. Methodologically, the study highlights the role of opinion surveys as a measure of effectiveness and impact of anti-trafficking awareness campaigns. In practical terms, the article presents a set of data which can be useful for policy-makers, anti-trafficking activists, and national media in designing impactful awareness-raising campaigns and interventions.

The focus of this issue of the Anti-Trafficking Review—public perceptions and responses to human trafficking—reflects the growing unease and disagreements among anti-trafficking practitioners and scholars about the current state of public awareness of human trafficking: how and by whom such awareness is produced and manipulated, whom it is targeting, and whether it leads, or can lead, to any meaningful anti-trafficking action. A central assumption in the anti-trafficking field is that the general public still lacks sufficient knowledge about human trafficking, and that creating more knowledge and awareness will lead to its reduction. However, there neither exists a common understanding of who should know what in order to achieve this goal, nor is there sufficient information available about the awareness of the general public or, especially, the impact of this awareness.

The focus of this paper is on government anti-trafficking policies and funding allocations in two case-study countries, Ukraine and the United Kingdom (UK). The paper discusses specific ways, or ‘vectors’, in which human trafficking has been discursively constructed by national policies and the solutions that have been offered to counteract it. It relies on publicly available information and information obtained via Freedom of Information requests from public authorities in these countries to explore the extent to which anti-trafficking funding allocated by national governments supports or unsettles such representations. A broader definition of human trafficking has been encoded into anti-trafficking policies in Ukraine, implicating migratory pressures and violation of irregular migrants’ human rights as the root causes of trafficking. However, the ability of the government to act upon this definition is limited by the ongoing socio-economic and political crises in Ukraine. This is in comparison to the politicised construction of trafficking by the UK government as a threat from international organised crime and ‘illegal’ immigration. The paper concludes that governments in both countries put their anti-trafficking money where ‘their mouths are’: crime, immigration and victim care in the UK, and awareness raising, victim care and training of ‘frontline professionals’ in Ukraine.Dándonos el "Mayor Rendimiento al Menor Coste" (o No): Financiación nacional contra la Trata en Ucrania y Reino UnidoResumenEste artículo se centra en la políticas gubernamentales contra la trata y la asignación financiera en dos países a modo de estudio de caso, Ucrania y Reino Unido. En concreto se discuten las vías específicas, o "vectores", que en el ámbito de las políticas nacionales se han ido formulando para afrontar el problema de la trata de seres humanos, así como las soluciones que se han ido proponiendo para neutralizarlo. Para ello se toma la información pública disponible y aque

Trafficking in Human Beings: - Part of the larger system of exploitation of bodies and labour of others for the benefit of capitalist economies driven by consumption - Reflects the working of the power relations of the neo-liberal capitalist dominance - Reflects deep philosophical and practical contradictions between sustainability, respect for human rights and capitalism‟s mode of production - Is a symptom of the larger system of globalised exploitation of gendered and radicalised labour. - Cannot be eliminated on a symptomatic level - A long lasting solution: tighter state regulation of labour practices and critical consciousness among members of the general public attuned to local socioeconomic and political contexts

This study examines in detail the complexities of mainstreaming gender within the context of United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK). By examining how gender has been incorporated within the context of the UN-managed post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo, this research draws upon current feminist theories in political participation, militarism, peace and violence, and the emerging framework of gender mainstreaming within the context of peace-support operations. In particular, this research investigates how gender and ethnic identities intersect to form a web of power relations in post-conflict Kosovo, studying the evolving forms of political participation experienced by Kosovo Albanian women at various levels of regional decision-making. This research examines (a) how, and to what extent, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo was able to take advantage of the post conflict 'window of opportunity' to engender the processes of post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo; (b) to what extent politically active Kosovo Albanian women exploited this opportunity to gain access to political decision-making in the region by means of formal and informal participation; and (c) to what extent this participation was beneficial towards political and economic empowerment of various groups of Kosovo Albanian women. In doing so it examines: (a) legal and institutional frameworks for gender mainstreaming established by UNMIK as a foundation for the post-conflict policies of gender mainstreaming; (b) the origins of these frameworks, including the unique 'nation-building' mandate of UNMIK, and unique cultural and political contexts in Kosovo within which these frameworks were established. This research examines the factors, which define the nature of Kosovo Albanian women's political activism, exploring connections between gender, militarisation and ethnicisation of day-to-day life in Kosovo.

This study examines in detail the complexities of mainstreaming gender within the context of United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK). By examining how gender has been incorporated within the context of the UN-managed post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo, this research draws upon current feminist theories in political participation, militarism, peace and violence, and the emerging framework of gender mainstreaming within the context of peace-support operations. In particular, this research investigates how gender and ethnic identities intersect to form a web of power relations in post-conflict Kosovo, studying the evolving forms of political participation experienced by Kosovo Albanian women at various levels of regional decision-making. This research examines (a) how, and to what extent, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo was able to take advantage of the post conflict 'window of opportunity' to engender the processes of post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo; (b) to what extent politically active Kosovo Albanian women exploited this opportunity to gain access to political decision-making in the region by means of formal and informal participation; and (c) to what extent this participation was beneficial towards political and economic empowerment of various groups of Kosovo Albanian women. In doing so it examines: (a) legal and institutional frameworks for gender mainstreaming established by UNMIK as a foundation for the post-conflict policies of gender mainstreaming; (b) the origins of these frameworks, including the unique 'nation-building' mandate of UNMIK, and unique cultural and political contexts in Kosovo within which these frameworks were established. This research examines the factors, which define the nature of Kosovo Albanian women's political activism, exploring connections between gender, militarisation and ethnicisation of day-to-day life in Kosovo.

This study examines in detail the complexities of mainstreaming gender within the context of United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK). By examining how gender has been incorporated within the context of the UN-managed post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo, this research draws upon current feminist theories in political participation, militarism, peace and violence, and the emerging framework of gender mainstreaming within the context of peace-support operations. In particular, this research investigates how gender and ethnic identities intersect to form a web of power relations in post-conflict Kosovo, studying the evolving forms of political participation experienced by Kosovo Albanian women at various levels of regional decision-making. This research examines (a) how, and to what extent, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo was able to take advantage of the post conflict 'window of opportunity' to engender the processes of post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo; (b) to what extent politically active Kosovo Albanian women exploited this opportunity to gain access to political decision-making in the region by means of formal and informal participation; and (c) to what extent this participation was beneficial towards political and economic empowerment of various groups of Kosovo Albanian women. In doing so it examines: (a) legal and institutional frameworks for gender mainstreaming established by UNMIK as a foundation for the post-conflict policies of gender mainstreaming; (b) the origins of these frameworks, including the unique 'nation-building' mandate of UNMIK, and unique cultural and political contexts in Kosovo within which these frameworks were established. This research examines the factors, which define the nature of Kosovo Albanian women's political activism, exploring connections between gender, militarisation and ethnicisation of day-to-day life in Kosovo.

This study examines in detail the complexities of mainstreaming gender within the context of United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK). By examining how gender has been incorporated within the context of the UN-managed post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo, this research draws upon current feminist theories in political participation, militarism, peace and violence, and the emerging framework of gender mainstreaming within the context of peace-support operations. In particular, this research investigates how gender and ethnic identities intersect to form a web of power relations in post-conflict Kosovo, studying the evolving forms of political participation experienced by Kosovo Albanian women at various levels of regional decision-making. This research examines (a) how, and to what extent, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo was able to take advantage of the post conflict 'window of opportunity' to engender the processes of post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo; (b) to what extent politically active Kosovo Albanian women exploited this opportunity to gain access to political decision-making in the region by means of formal and informal participation; and (c) to what extent this participation was beneficial towards political and economic empowerment of various groups of Kosovo Albanian women. In doing so it examines: (a) legal and institutional frameworks for gender mainstreaming established by UNMIK as a foundation for the post-conflict policies of gender mainstreaming; (b) the origins of these frameworks, including the unique 'nation-building' mandate of UNMIK, and unique cultural and political contexts in Kosovo within which these frameworks were established. This research examines the factors, which define the nature of Kosovo Albanian women's political activism, exploring connections between gender, militarisation and ethnicisation of day-to-day life in Kosovo.