The Belgian Anti-Slavery Society (French: Société antiesclavagiste de Belgique, Dutch: Antislavernijmaatschappij van België) was a 19th-century organization, with the goal of putting an end to the Arab slave trade in the African continent. The Belgian Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1888, mainly by catholic intellectuals, led by count Hippolyte d'Ursel. The founders were inspired by the preaching of Charles Lavigerie, a French Cardinal, held at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in August 1888. By January 1889 the society counted 700 members and had a working capital of 300.000 francs at its disposal. The abolitionist ideology of the Anti-Slavery Society was, however, closely linked with imperialism. From 1890 to 1899 the Société antiesclavagiste de Belgique organized and funded four military expeditions, sent to fight the Arab/Zanzibari slavers of the eastern Congo Free State regions.
The Belgian Anti-Slavery Society published the journal Le mouvement antiesclavagiste (redaction by Louis Delmer), in 1899 it merged with the Oeuvre des Missions Catholiques au Congo. The society was also a close supporter of the internationally attended Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference 1889–90 which eventually led to the Brussels Conference Act of 1890. They also organized a follow-up conference at the Academy Palace to put pressure on the countries that had rejected the anti-slavery act thus far, mainly the Netherlands and the Ottoman Empire.[1]