During his official visit to Poland earlier this week, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin raised with the Polish leaders the issue of ritual slaughter (shechita) as the Polish Constitutional Tribunal is set to hold a hearing on December 3 to discuss the country’s ban on ritual slaughter of animals.
In his meetings with Polish President Bronislawas Komorowski, Sjem (the lower house of the Parliament) Speaker Radoslaw Sikorski and Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz, Rivlin pointed out that in democratic countries, freedom of religion both in terms of worship and practice is a given.
Jews have been practicing brit milah (circumcision) and shechita for centuries, Rivlin said.
Ritual slaughter has been banned in Poland since January 1, 2013, after the country's constitutional court once again ruled it illegal. A 1997 Polish law was the first to ban slaughter without the prior stunning of animals on humane grounds.
The court effectively scrapped and overrode a government regulation from 2004, when Poland joined the European Union, that exempted Jews and Muslims from the stunting requirement.
Stunning is inconsistent with the rules of slaughter of both Judaism and Islam, which requires the animal to be conscious.
As a result of the controversy surrounding the issue, the Tribunal asked for the opinion of the Sejm (Polish Parliament), and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
According to the Sejm, ritual slaughter performed for the needs of a religious community in Poland is legal, and the person performing the slaughter cannot be punished by law. The Prosecutor General’s Office disagreed, saying that “the slaughter of animals, provided by religious rites, is not permitted.”
On March 5, 2014, the National Council of Agricultural Chambers in Poland, filed a bill arguing for a law which would legalize ritual slaughter.
The Parliament will take up the project following the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling.
An initial attempt to reinstate ritual slaughter was struck down by Sejm in July 2013, angering the Jewish and Muslim communities as well as farmers and exporters of meat towards Israel and Muslim countries.
Poland’s Ombudsman, Irena Lipowicz. has filed a complaint with Poland's Constitutional Court calling for the repeal of the ban on the slaughter of animals without prior stunning. “Ritual slaughter, when performed at an abbatoir by trained butchers for the exclusive needs of local religious communities, and which does not take place on a massive scale, but only seeks to meet the needs of a particular religious community, is constitutionally permissible,” Irena Lipowicz argued in a statement.