In 1880, it was revealed that about fifty foreign girls had been sex trafficked illegally to work in brothels in Brussels.
The case became a major scandal which attracted international infamy, especially since it became known that some people within the authorities had been involved in the trade.
The scandal attracted international attention to the ongoing issue of sex trafficking.
It resulted in an international campaign against sex trafficking, which became labelled as white slave trade.
Campaigns against sex trafficking first started in Belgium after the scandal of 1880, and spread from there to Great Britain in 1885, to France in 1902 and to the United States in 1907.