After three years of discussion the ritual, unsedated slaughter of animals is going to be banned. But if Jewish and Islamic groups can prove the animals are not suffering more than when slaughtered conventionally they will be exempt from the ban.

Shortly before the animal welfare party’s leader Marianne Tieme’s first ever draft legislation was sent on its way to the upper chamber, NRC had this to say about it: ‘The parties are trying to prove that they are not after a curtailment of religious freedom. That had been the suggestion because the discussion kept focusing on ritual slaughter.
The amendment – animals must not suffer more than when slaughtered in the normal way – has taken care of that. At the same time the parties know that this cannot be proven. The burden of proof now lies with the religious groups who will have to come up with scientific evidence that ritual unsedated slaughter is better for the animals’ welfare. How they will do that is unclear.’
On NOS Nieuws a proud Thieme was juxtaposed with a disappointed rabbi Binyomin Jacobs. He said that the ban on ritual slaughter was ‘a severe blow’ for the Jewish community. ‘People are thinking back to the time when a ban on kosher slaughter was one of the first measures taken against the Jews. They are wondering what will be next’, he commented.
Trouw interviewed Thieme, who is clear on the subject of religious freedom versus animal suffering: ‘Fortunately a large majority feels it’s legitimate to restrict religious freedom where animal welfare is concerned’, she said.
Thieme has long battled for the ban, the paper writes. When asked if she envisages a ban on factory farming Thieme says such a ban would be ‘a more difficult proposition’ although she has the sector in her sights. Thieme’s next proposal will be an increase in VAT on all food that hasn’t been sustainably produced. ‘And that includes meat.’
In the same paper, philosopher René ten Bos says that if animal suffering is the criterion all slaughter should banned. ‘I have a raft of papers that say that animals suffer tremendously during slaugter. Unsedated slaughter is conceivably not much worse than conventional slaughter’, he says.
Ten Bos, who wrote ‘Het geniale dier’, a book on what separates man from animals, thinks that the ban on ritual slaughter is proof of politicians’ need to take a moral stand. ‘Society has a problem with animal suffering and politicians want to do something with that. Factory farming is too difficult to tackle for the moment so they came up with this.’