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.
Highlights
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
This question was recently examined by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
The regulation’s preamble puts it as follows: Since Community provisions applicable to religious slaughter have been transposed differently depending on national contexts and considering that national rules take into account dimensions that go beyond the purpose of this Regulation, it is important that derogation from stunning animals prior to slaughter should be maintained, leaving, a certain level of subsidiarity to each Member State
Summary
The tension between respect for religious and cultural practices on the one side and animal welfare on the other is acute when it comes to slaughter. The professional association of the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe, pronounced: the opinion that from an animal welfare point of view, and out of respect for an animal as a sentient being, the practice of slaughtering animals without prior stunning is unacceptable under any circumstances, for the following reasons: Slaughter without stunning increases the time to loss of consciousness, sometimes up to several minutes During this period of consciousness the animal can be exposed to unnecessary pain and suffering due to: exposed wound surfaces; the possible aspiration of blood and, in the case of ruminants, rumen content; the possible suffering from asphyxia after severing the n. The question in the Liga van Moskeeën case is whether the exception goes far enough
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