Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: article 9

  • Elien Verniers

Executief van de Moslims van België and Others v. Belgium: the ECtHR’s perspective on balancing animal welfare with religious freedom

May 08, 2024

by dr. Elien Verniers In February, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a landmark judgment with significant animal welfare implications in Belgium and beyond in the case of Executief van de Moslims van België and Others v. Belgium. The ECtHR decided, in line with the previous judgment of the European Court of Justice […]

  • Harriet Ní Chinnéide & Cathérine Van de Graaf

Prohibition of religious slaughter in Executief van de Moslims van België and others v. Belgium: Process-based review and a new legitimate aim

April 26, 2024

Harriet Ní Chinnéide & Dr. Cathérine Van de Graaf In Executief van de Moslims van België and others v Belgium the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR, the Court) assessed the compatibility of decrees adopted in Flanders and Wallonia banning the slaughter of animals without prior stunning, as practiced by observant Muslims and Jews […]

  • Cathérine Van de Graaf

Georgian Muslim Relations and Others v. Georgia – A bleeding pig’s head and other expressions of religious hatred with no police intervention

April 23, 2024

by dr. Cathérine Van de Graaf1 On 30 November, the Fifth Division of the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of Georgian Muslim Relations and Others v. Georgia. The Court ruled that Georgia had violated its positive obligations under Articles 8 and 9 of the Convention in conjunction with Article 14 as […]

  • Işıl Kurnaz

Does a requirement to undertake 1 day of reserve military service engender a right to conscientious objection? The recent judgment of the ECtHR in Kanatlı v. Turkey offers a new perspective.

April 05, 2024

Işıl Kurnaz Since around the mid-1800s, the term “conscientious objection” has been used to describe a refusal driven by an individual’s moral conscious to engage in military duties. Although the right to conscientious objection is not defined in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – or indeed, in any UN instrument – it is […]