The Flemish Parliament will soon vote a draft bill concerning a ban on animal slaughter 
without stunning, effectively banning Islamic and Jewish slaughter practices in Belgium’s autonomous Flanders region.
A similar ban was approved by the Walloon parliament on May 17 and will come into force on June 1, 2018.
If the Flemish Parliament approves the bill, which will come into effect in 2019, halal and kosher slaughter procedures used by Muslims and the Jews respectively, will only be legal in the Brussels-Capital Region. The capital region, however, is expected to pass a similar law after the Flemish Parliament’s decision, which would ban halal and kosher slaughter altogether throughout the country.
Initially, bovine reportedly will not be part of the ban due to technical difficulties. Authorities called on slaughter houses to improve their infrastructure in accordance with the law and train their employees accordingly.
The country’s Muslim and Jewish communities, which make up 6 percent of the Belgian population, strongly object the ban.
Walloon Parliament’s decision was appealed by Muslim and Jewish communities at the Belgian constitutional court.
