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2019

  • May 2019: Ritual slaughter

Sweden banned slaughter without prior sedation in 1937, and provides no exception for religious slaughter.

There are no pending proposals (Sw: motioner) in the Swedish Parliament to allow for unsedated religious slaughter. The anti-immigration Swedish Democrats Party (Sverigedemokraterna) has put forward a proposal that would require labelling of imported meat from animals slaughtered without prior sedation, specifically referring to a ban on kosher and halal products. Both the Jewish congregation in Stockholm and Muslim representatives are actively lobbying the Swedish Parliament to allow for slaughter in accordance with kosher and halal practices, i.e. without prior sedation of the animal.

The Swedish government has presented a proposal to the law council (lagrådsremiss) for a new Animal Welfare Act. The proposal would not allow for religious slaughter without prior sedation.

Source: Elin Hovferberg, ‘Sweden’, Legal Restrictions on Religious Slaughter in Europe, at US Library of Congress, 2018.

D 20 May 2019    APer Pettersson

CNRS Unistra Dres Gsrl

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