Qu'est-ce que la Fédération Abolitionniste Internationale?

This document outlines the history and continued goals of the International Abolitionist Federation, founded in 1875 under the direction of Josephine Butler. The organization's primary objective was the abolition of state-regulated prostitution and the revision of any law which made prostitution a "public institution." In France, for example, which since 1802 was considered a "regulationist" country, the medical surveillance of prostitutes and the establishment of state-administered brothels was implemented to best protect the public from this "necessary evil." Josephine Butler, though, was among the first to raise criticism of the system of regulation, highlighting faults in concerns about hygiene and the protection of social morality. The task of the organization, more than fifty years after its inception, remains the same: to ensure that no new measures supporting regulation are passed in countries which have already abolished it; to ensure the enforcement of abolitionist laws with vigilance; and to promote abolition in countries which have not yet adopted such principles.