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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found that Switzerland violated two vegan prisoners’ “freedom of conscience” when it failed to provide them with entirely plant-based meals consistent with their ethical beliefs.
The court ruled that Switzerland must pay a total of €16,000 in compensation for moral damages and approximately €10,000 in legal costs. It must also review its procedures to ensure future dietary requests are assessed properly.
Read more: EU Protein Plan Targets More Plant-Based Options To Feed Farm Animals
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.
One of the two prisoners was arrested in 2018 following damages and break-ins at Swiss slaughterhouses and butcher’s shops, then detained at Champ-Dollon prison 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.
On July 16, 2026, the ECHR ruled 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.
‘Veganism cannot be brushed aside as a mere lifestyle or dietary choice’
The Vegan Society and members of The Vegan Society’s 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.
Rowley said, “We 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.”
Read more: UK Food Standards Agencies Publish Latest Guidance For Cultivated Meat Businesses
Ethical veganism as a protected human right
As of April, the UK’s updated Food in Prisons Policy Framework requires prison kitchens to accommodate “belief-based” veganism as they would faith-based diets.
While many UK prisons previously offered plant-based and meat-free options, the modernized policy framework – which was last updated in 2010 – recognizes that ethical veganism is a protected human right under the Equality Act.
In 2024, there were approximately 87,300 people 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 from vegan prisoners to weed out “fakers.”
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