Tierwohl schlägt Religionsfreiheit: Zum Urteil des EGMR in Sachen Executief van de Moslims van België u. a. ./. Belgien, 16760/22 u. a., 13. Februar 2024

Theodor Schilling

doi:10.60935/mrm2024.29.1.6

Animal Welfare Beats Freedom of Religion

The ECtHR judgment in the case of Executief van de Moslims van België and Others v. Belgium, 16760/22 and others, 13 February 2024

Authors

Theodor Schilling Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.60935/mrm2024.29.1.6

Keywords:

freedom of religion, animal welfare, protection of morals, living instrument, margin of appreciation, proportionality, “procedural turn”, deference

Abstract

The judgment under review privileges animal welfare over freedom of religion. It revives the dubious theory of the "choice of society", shows unappropriate deference to national bodies and, for the first time and in deviation from extant case-law, applies the "living instrument" doctrine to restrict Convention rights without even finding a European consensus on this application. It also neglects the question of the appropriateness of the interference (restriction).