EU top court rules countries can ban halal slaughter

The European Union's top court has upheld curbs on ritual animal slaughter in Belgium, in a move that targets Muslim religious rites.

According to reports, the ruling, made by Luxembourg-based court on Thursday, approved a Belgian court ban on the slaughter of livestock that have not been stunned, citing animals rights.

The court in Belgium originally ruled in 2017 that animals need to be stunned before being killed.

This is while Islamic halal tradition requires livestock to be conscious when their throats are slit.

Muslim associations argue that their methods of cutting animals’ throats with a sharp knife resulted in almost immediate death and that, traditionally, prior stunning was not permitted.

The original decree had effectively outlawed their traditional ways of slaughtering animals.

Belgium is home to some 500,000 Muslims.

Those who want to observe religious slaughter rules have to obtain meat from abroad.

In a similar move in 2018, the EU court upheld a Belgian law that required animal slaughter to take place in slaughterhouses.

Along with Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Slovenia are also not allowing for any religious exemptions to EU slaughter regulations.

SS