The prisoners are both anti-speciesism activists and first brought the case before the ECHR in 2022. The ECHR notably rejects approximately 95 percent of the cases that are submitted for its approval, but admitted the appeal.<\/p>\n
One of the two prisoners was arrested in 2018 following damages and break-ins at Swiss slaughterhouses and butcher\u2019s shops, then detained at Champ-Dollon prison<\/a> in Geneva for 11 months, while the other was detained for two months on a psychiatric ward in 2021. Both were denied access to a fully vegan diet while in custody.<\/p>\n On July 16, 2026, the ECHR ruled<\/a> that, by denying the prisoners appropriate vegan meals and by rejecting their appeals, the Swiss state violated Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and Article 13, which guarantees the right to an effective remedy. The court voted six to one in favor of the prisoners.<\/p>\n \u2018Veganism cannot be brushed aside as a mere lifestyle or dietary choice\u2019<\/p>\n The Vegan Society and members of The Vegan Society\u2019s International Rights Network, led by Jeanette Rowley, an authority on vegan law, were granted permission to intervene as third parties and provide information to the ECHR.<\/p>\n Rowley said, \u201cWe are grateful to have been able to assist the Court. This is a significant and important judgment that builds on earlier Strasbourg recognition of vegan convictions. The Court has recognised that the convictions of vegans deserve the same seriousness and respect as other protected beliefs under human rights law. When someone is detained, hospitalised or otherwise dependent on public authorities for food, veganism cannot be brushed aside as a mere lifestyle or dietary choice. Authorities must take vegan convictions seriously, examine requests for vegan food properly and provide effective remedies. The judgment is binding on Switzerland and constitutes important legal guidance across all Convention states and is likely to be influential around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more: UK Food Standards Agencies Publish Latest Guidance For Cultivated Meat Businesses<\/a><\/p>\n Ethical veganism as a protected human right<\/p>\n As of April, the UK\u2019s updated Food in Prisons Policy Framework requires prison kitchens to accommodate \u201cbelief-based\u201d veganism<\/a> as they would faith-based diets.<\/p>\n While many UK prisons previously offered plant-based and meat-free options, the modernized policy framework \u2013 which was last updated in 2010 \u2013 recognizes that ethical veganism is a protected human right under the Equality Act.<\/p>\n In 2024, there were approximately 87,300 people<\/a> in prison in England and Wales. This total is thought to include roughly 800 vegans, who make up around one percent of the general population. In 2022, guards at a prison in Suffolk reportedly withheld plant-based meals<\/a> from vegan prisoners to weed out \u201cfakers.\u201d<\/p>\n PBN runs a sponsored content model. To explore how you can get featured, please email [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> or visit everkinddigital.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found that Switzerland violated two vegan prisoners\u2019 \u201cfreedom of conscience\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[5996,197,67,1202,7184,17],"class_list":["post-109503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-activism","tag-europe","tag-law","tag-news","tag-prison","tag-switzerland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117003387240222683","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eu-court-finds-switzerland-violated-vegan-prisoners-human-rights-3-1200x800.jpeg\")
Adobe Stock In the UK, prison kitchens are now required to accommodate ethical veganism<\/p>\n