Freedom of religion with regard to religious slaughter

Secretary General of WEA testifies in the headquarter of the EU Commission on religious slaughtering and religious freedom

The Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), Archbishop Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, participated in a high-level meeting of the European Commission on the topic “Freedom of religion with regard to religious slaughter”.

The meeting took place at the headquarter of the European Commission in Brussels and was attended by politicians and representatives from Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities. (See also Urgent conference on religious slaughter to be held by European Commission.)

Mose Apelblat summarized the event in The Brussels Times as follows:

“The European Commission organised last Thursday a conference with religious communities in the EU with focus on ritual slaughter, a sensitive issue which involves principles of religious freedom and animal welfare concerns. The conference was held in partnership with the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the UN. It brought together 100 representatives of EU Member States and other national authorities, special envoys and coordinators on combating antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred, representatives of national Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities, international organisations and independent experts.”

Among the speakers were:

• Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating antisemitism
• Miguel Moratinos, High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations
• Nicola Beer, European Parliament Vice-President, Special envoy on combating religious discrimination
• Katharina von Schnurbein, Coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life
• Judge Mr. Yannis Ktistakis, European Court of Human Rights
• Archbishop Thomas Schirrmacher, Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance
• Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt
• Atik Ali, Chair of the Human Rights Commission of the National Forum for Cooperation of Religions in Finland
• Ariel Muzicant, President of European Jewish Congress
• Mohamed Moussaoui, President of the French Council for Muslim Religion
• Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland
• Imam Salahuddin Barakat from Malmö, Sweden
• Khalid Hajji, an expert on inter-religious dialogue
• Rabbi Schlomo Elieser Hofmeister, Senior Rabbi of the Austrian Jewish community
• Manuel Barrios Prieto, General Secretary of the European Catholics Bishop’s Conference (COMECE)