K A S H R U T . C O M_©

Belgium: Jewish community files lawsuit over kosher slaughter ban

January 18, 2018: from the WorldIsraelNews

"The Belgian Jewish Community on Tuesday filed a lawsuit challenging legislation passed last year by the parliament in Flanders banning the kosher slaughter of animals."

"The lawsuit was submitted by the Belgian Federation of Jewish Organizations (CCOJB), the Belgian section of the European Jewish Congress (EJC) and the World Jewish Congress (WJC), and follows a case submitted last November against similar legislation passed by the parliament of the Walloon region."

Kosher slaughtering of animals requires they be conscious when they are slaughtered — a practice that critics say is cruel, but which advocates insist is more humane than mechanized methods used in non-kosher slaughterhouses."

"If the legislation is not annulled before coming into force in 2019 it would ban the production of kosher and halal meat in Belgium."

"The lawsuit argues that the legislation violates European Union (EU) law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the Belgian Constitution itself, all of which guarantee freedom of religion.

"The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has previously described kosher slaughter as 'an essential aspect of practice of the Jewish religion.'"

"In addition to the CCOJB and the Lawfare Project’s previous lawsuit against the Walloon legislation, the Coordinating Council of Islamic Institutions in Belgium also filed a lawsuit alleging that this is an attack on religious freedom."