EU Court backs ban on animal slaughter without stunning

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A Belgian ban on kosher and halal slaughter of animals without being stunned has been backed by the European Court of Justice, which rejected objections by religious groups.

 

Under the requirements of Muslim halal or Jewish shechita slaughter, an animal's throat is slit quickly with a surgically sharp knife while it is still conscious.

EU law, along with UK law, already requires animals to be stunned before being killed, unless the meat is intended for Muslims or Jews, and then only in approved abbatoirs.

Muslim groups repeatedly challenged the Flemish legislation before it was passed and came into force in January 2019. The French-speaking Wallonia area of southern Belgium adopted the law months later.

When the Belgian laws came in, Muslim and Jewish groups feared they were being used by nationalists to whip up anti-immigrant sentiment.

The head of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, said Friday was a "sad day for European Jewry" and Belgium's Jewish umbrella group, CCOJB, said it would take its legal fight to the European Court of Human Rights.