“Tell Me Who You Harm and I Will Tell You What You Are”: Ethical Veganism as a Philosophical Belief Protected Under the British Equality Act 2010
by Sergiu Constantin
Question(s) at stake
Whether ethical veganism can amount to a philosophical belief and whether it can be considered a protected characteristic under British equality law.
Outcome of the ruling
Ethical veganism is a philosophical belief which qualifies as a protected belief within the meaning of Section 10 of the Equality Act 2010.
Country:
Official citation
Preliminary Hearing Judgement of the Norwich Employment Tribunal, Case no. 3331129/2018, Mr J. Casamitjana Costa v. The League Against Cruel Sports
Topic(s)
Keywords:
Animal rights Disciplinary measures Dismissal Freedom of thought, conscience and religion Non-discrimination Religion and belief
Tag(s):
Ethical veganism Philosophical belief Ahimsa Vegan diet Animal products
Bibliographic information
Access case report
View case report in the CUREDI databaseAbout the authors
Sergiu Constantin (Eurac Research Institute for Minorities Rights, Bolzano, Italy)
Sergiu Constantin is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Minority Rights of Eurac Research (Bolzano/Bozen, Italy). He holds a law degree from the University of Bucharest (Romania) and a Master in European Studies from the University of Graz (Austria). His research projects deal with diversity governance focusing mainly on language rights, political participation and territorial/cultural autonomy arrangements in Europe and beyond. He has published several papers, articles and book chapters on these topics. His most recent publications are included in the volumes Litigating the Rights of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples in Domestic and International Courts (edited by B. De Villiers, J. Marko, F. Palermo and S. Constantin, Brill, 2021) and Human and Minority Rights Protection by Multiple Diversity Governance. History, Law, Ideology and Politics in European Perspective (edited by J. Marko and S. Constantin, Routledge, 2019). His most recent consultancy activities regard projects undertaken by the Council of Europe and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. Besides his research and consultancy work, he is co-managing the annual Eurac Research Summer School on Human Rights, Minorities and Diversity Governance and is coordinating the science communication activities of the Institute for Minority Rights.