Ritual Slaughter and Religious Freedom in a Multilevel Europe: The Wider Importance of the Dutch Case

Many jurisdictions in Europe face the question whether to allow ritual slaughter without stunning animals first. This question attracts not only the province of national constitutional law but importantly also EU fundamental rights and regulatory law in addition to the decisive importance of European Convention on Human Rights law. On the basis of a multilevel legal analysis the conclusion is reached that ritual slaughter may be restricted provided that a state follows the least restrictive alternative when limiting the right to religious freedom when holding that animals be stunned before slaughter. Departing from a recent attempt to abolish religious exemptions from mandatory stunning in the Netherlands, this article sets out the various considerations to determine whether a jurisdiction did indeed adopt the least restrictive alternative in limiting religious freedom to enhance animal welfare. In this regard critical attention is paid to the Strasbourg decision of Cha’are Shalom Ve Tsedek v France.