animal welfare
The Walloon and Flemish ban on ritual slaughter without stunning does not conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights. Animal welfare weighs more heavily than religious freedom in the judgment.
The Muslim and Jewish communities looked at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) with trepidation. It ruled on Tuesday that the Walloon and Flemish ban on ritual slaughter without stunning does not conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Since 2019, a ban on the slaughter of animals without stunning in the context of religious rituals has been in force in both Flanders and Wallonia. Animal welfare was seen as a stronger argument than religious freedom, or the risk of kosher or halal meat production moving abroad.
Only in the Brussels Region was no ban imposed. The Anderlecht slaughterhouse will thus become the last place in Belgium where ritual slaughter can take place. This slaughterhouse announced in June 2023 that it would stop its slaughter activities in 2028, after which the region opened the door to setting up a new slaughterhouse itself.
Belgian Constitution
Yet slaughter without stunning is also a sensitive political issue in the capital. It leads to divisions within the Brussels majority parties. A proposed ordinance to ban slaughter without stunning did not find the required majority in the regional parliament in June 2022.
According to the Islamic and Jewish communities, freedom of religion is at risk due to the ban in Flanders and Wallonia. Several appeals were filed with the Constitutional Court seeking annulment of mandatory pre-slaughter stunning.
The Court referred the case to the European Court of Justice, which ruled that the relevant Flemish and Walloon decrees were not contrary to European regulations. In September 2021, the Constitutional Court rejected the applications to annul the decrees. It also recognized that the ban on slaughter without stunning constitutes a restriction on the religious freedom of Jewish and Muslim believers. Nevertheless, the Court ruled that animal welfare constitutes a more compelling social need and that the ban is not contrary to the Belgian Constitution.
Freedom of religion and discrimination
The ruling was a slap in the face to Jewish and Muslim communities, for whom ritual slaughter is an essential part of the practice of their religion. Thirteen individuals and seven organizations, including the Chief Rabbi of Brussels and the Muslim Executive, turned to the ECtHR. They argue that there is unlawful interference with the freedom of religion, and discrimination in the exercise of religious freedom.
But the European Court also rules that the ban on ritual slaughter does not conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights. The measure would be proportionate to the objective pursued, namely “the protection of animal welfare as an element of ‘public morality’”. It therefore concludes that the Flemish and Walloon decrees do not infringe the freedom of religion (Article 9) or the principle of non-discrimination (Article 14).
