The Animal rights organisation GAIA is taking the Brussels-Capital Region to court to force it to introduce a ban on the unanaesthetised slaughter of animals. A thorn in GAIA's side is what it sees as an omission in the Brussels Animal Welfare Codex, that will soon be put before the regional parliament.
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Animal rights group GAIA legitimate against Brussels-Capital Region over anaesthetised slaughter
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The stated aim of the codex is to better protect animals. However, the codex contains no provision for the banning of unanaesthetised slaughter. Such a ban already exists in both Flanders and Wallonia. In a press release GAIA said that around 30,000 animals are slaughtered without anaesthetic in Brussels each year.
The animal rights organisation says a ban that exist in Flanders and Wallonia has already passed the test of the Constitutional Court (in 2020), the European Court of Justice (in 2021) and most recently European Court of Human Rights earlier this year. “This is yet another reason why unanaesthetised slaughter should be banned in the Brussels-Capital Region too”, GAIA said.
Now GAIA is taking the Brussels-Capital Region to court in order to force it to include a ban in the Codex. GAIA’s lawyer Marc Uyttendaele says that legislation needs to be revised in the light of recent developments. If this does not happen, GAIA will ask the court to impose a penalty of 10 euros for every unanaesthetised slaughter that takes place."
New campaign
In addition to the court case, GAIA also launched a new campaign on Tuesday morning to persuade regional MPs in Brussels to vote for a ban on u unanaesthetised slaughter.
"Brussels politicians must at last show that they take animal welfare, the scientific consensus and the wisdom of no fewer than 34 judges in the highest courts seriously and allow it to take precedence over flat electoral opportunism," says GAIA’s Chairman Michel Vandenbosch told journalists.