Derecho Animal (Dec 2019)
Religious slaughter and animal welfare revisited: CJEU, Liga van Moskeeën en islamitische Organisaties Provincie Antwerpen (2018)
Abstract
The article comments on a Grand Chamber judgment by the Court of the European Union on animal slaughter according to Islamic prescriptions. The relevant European Union laws prescribe that religious slaughter without stunning of the animal may only take place in approved slaughterhouses which causes a shortage during the Muslim feast of sacrifice in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The EU law provisions are in conformity with the animal welfare mainstreaming clause of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Moreover, the EU regulation and its application in the concrete case does not violate the fundamental right of free exercise of religion as guaranteed by the EU Fundamental Rights Charter. Finally, the refusal to make an exception for the peak demand for slaughter facilities during the feast does not constitute an indirect discrimination against Muslims. The paper agrees with the outcome of the judgment but criticises the Court for failing to consider the rights of religious minorities more broadly, and for not addressing the animal welfare point sufficiently.
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