Flemish parliament delays vote on ritual slaughter

Members of the animal welfare committee in the Flemish parliament have postponed a vote on a proposal to ban slaughter of animals without stunning – the type of ritual slaughter carried out in the halal and kosher traditions.

The vote was due to take place on Wednesday, but the committee said it preferred to wait for the results of negotiations being carried out by the mediator, former Boerenbond president Piet Vanthemsche. The decision to delay the vote was taken by the majority parties N-VA, CD&V and Open VLD.

In Flanders, it is illegal to slaughter an animal outside of licensed slaughterhouses without first stunning it with an electrical pulse. During the annual Feast of the Sacrifice, Muslims are required to slaughter an animal – usually a sheep – and tradition dictates that it be done without stunning the animal. But licensed slaughterhouses are unable to keep up with demand during the feast.

This lack of facilities in which to perform ritual slaughter has caused problems between religious communities and the government, as well as animal rights organisation Gaia. Now the government of Flanders is prepared to vote on a total ban on slaughter without stunning, even in licensed slaughterhouses.

Vanthemsche was appointed last summer following the Council of State’s warning that a total ban could be a breach of freedom of religion. His job is to find common ground between supporters of the ban and the religious organisations that oppose it. His recommendations should be ready by next spring, he said.

N-VA, the party of animal welfare minister Ben Weyts, expects there to be a “definitive and judicially conclusive ruling” available by next summer, ahead of the Muslim Festival of the Sacrifice, which falls on 1 September, 2017. According to committee member Jelle Engelbosch, only a total ban would be acceptable.

CD&V member Sonja Claes reacted: “Let’s wait for the report of the mediator and then write up a good and solid decree that satisfies all of us.”