page_title: International Abolitionist Federation
section_title: Britain
hierarchical_section_title: International Abolitionist Federation / Local abolitionist movements / Britain
caption_attribution_description: English: Postcard made for the Women's Freedom League with photographic portrait of Alison Neilans (1884-1942).
context_page_description: The International Abolitionist Federation, founded in Liverpool in 1875, aimed to abolish state regulation of prostitution and fought the international traffic in women in prostitution. It was originally called the British and Continental Federation for the Abolition of Prostitution.
  The federation was active in Europe, the Americas, and the European colonies and mandated territories. It felt that state regulations encouraged prostitution while having the effect of enslaving women in prostitution.
  It felt that the solution lay in moral education, empowerment of women through the right to acquire skills and work, and marriage.
  The federation experienced opposition from the authorities in Europe and the colonies, who were unwilling to relinquish control, and from reformers who wanted to suppress traffic of women but were less concerned with their welfare.
  After World War I, the IAF was involved in discussions about League of Nations conventions on the issues, and after World War II, about United Nations conventions.
  In later years, the main focus was on eliminating unjust regulations that violated women's rights.
context_section_description: In the 1870s Butler helped organize the Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts. 
  The Contagious Diseases Acts had extended British regulations of women in prostitution in military areas to cover the whole country.
  The British, Continental and General Federation for the Abolition of Government Regulation of Prostitution: British Branch was formed in Liverpool on 19 March 1875.
  The reformers used the name "abolition" as a reference to the earlier movement to abolish slavery, since they considered that state-regulated prostitution was a form of slavery of women.
  The British branch was based in Liverpool and had an office in Westminster, London.James Stansfeld was president, Josephine Butler secretary and Henry Wilson corresponding secretary. 
  Later William Crosfield was made treasurer and James Stuart replaced Wilson.
  The British association saw prostitution as part of the larger issue of social morality and the position of women.
  Butler was also active in the suffrage movement.
  The concept that regulation was acceptable in the colonies but not in Europe was completely rejected since the arguments against regulation were considered to be based on universal principles. British reformers also worked in Australia, Ceylon, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, India, Malta, Singapore and South Africa.
  In 1886 the British Contagious Diseases Act was repealed, a victory for the abolitionists.
  This was followed by a large meeting to which delegates came from Europe and America to "consolidate the attack on regulation throughout the world".
  After the Contagious Diseases Acts were repealed the branch concentrated on eliminating regulation of prostitution in the British Empire, and in India in particular. In 1890 it changed its name to the British Committee for the Abolition of the State Regulation of Vice in India and throughout the British Dominions.
  In 1897 the branch re-launched the Shield, a periodical that had supported repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act, after this act was re-enacted in India. In 1915 the branch merged with the Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts to form the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene (AMSH).
  The international abolitionist Alison Neilans (1884–1942)  was the AMSH general secretary in the 1920s.
  The AMSH was a member of the IAF.
caption: Alison Neilans was the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene (AMSH) general secretary in the 1920s.
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