No more excuses: time for a Brussels ban on unsedated slaughter

Brussels is the last place in Belgium where slaughter is still carried out without sedation. Nevertheless, the Belgian Constitutional Court confirms the view of the European Court of Justice that the Flemish ban on unsedated slaughter does not violate religious freedom. According to Brussels group chairman Cieltje Van Achter, Brussels has no more excuses.

Never before have we, as a society, so emphatically opposed unnecessary animal suffering. We are also taking steps forward in Brussels: fairground ponies are a thing of the past, sticky traps are now banned and we are calling a halt to fur farming. These are all practices that our grandparents thought were the most normal thing in the world, but which we now think are out of date, and rightly so.

Flanders and Wallonia already approved the ban in 2017

However, there is one striking absence from the list of Brussels measures: a ban on slaughter without sedation. Flanders and Wallonia already approved such a ban in 2017. Nothing happened in Brussels. The Anderlecht Abattoir is the last and only place in Belgium where slaughter is still carried out without sedation. Despite the undeniable suffering of this tradition, it is seen by some Brussels politicians as untouchable.

Brussels is lagging behind

The N-VA group submitted a proposal for an ordinance to prohibit unsedated slaughter during the previous legislature. However, the Brussels majority never wanted to put this proposal on the agenda. When the Flemish ban and shortly after that the Walloon ban came into effect in 2019, we thought Brussels would soon follow. The same parties that approved the Flemish and Walloon decrees are namely in the Brussels government.

PS and Ecolo hid behind the Constitutional Court

Nothing could be further from the truth. A number of Islamic and Jewish organisations took the matter to court, arguing it was a violation of religious freedom. Since then, the Brussels Government has been hiding behind the ongoing proceedings before the Constitutional Court. Every resolution, every debate and every question about a ban on unsedated slaughter was thus relegated to the wastepaper basket at the instigation of the PS and Ecolo.

The Constitutional Court confirms: a ban on unsedated slaughter does not violate religious freedom

In December last year, the European Court of Justice had already ruled that the Flemish ban does not violate religious freedom. This judgement has now been upheld by the Belgian Constitutional Court. The last and only argument put forward by the Vivaldi government against the ban has thus expired definitively. Because there has long been no doubt about the suffering of animals during unsedated slaughter.

The necessary legislative work has already been done. At the beginning of this year, I submitted an amended ordinance proposal that, as far as I am concerned, can be put on the agenda immediately. No more excuses; it is time Brussels put an end to this form of unnecessary animal suffering.