(Grand Chamber) The applicants complained that their children had been moved to special schools which did not reflect their needs from ordinary schools without them being consulted.
Held: The Court noted that, at the relevant time, the majority of children in special schools in the Czech Republic were of Roma origin. Roma children of average/above average intellect were often placed in those schools on the basis of psychological tests which were not adapted to people of their ethnic origin. The Court concluded that the law at that time had a disproportionately prejudicial effect on Roma children, in violation of Article 14 and Article 2 of Protocol No. 1. However, new legislation had abolished the special schools and required ordinary schools to provide both for children with special educational needs and socially disadvantaged children.
‘in Chapman . . the court also observed that there could be said to be an emerging international consensus amongst the contracting states of the Council of Europe recognising the special needs of minorities and an obligation to protect their security, identity and lifestyle, not only for the purpose of safeguarding the interests of the minorities themselves but to preserve a cultural diversity of value to the whole community’ and ‘Where it has been shown that legislation produces such a discriminatory effect . . it is not necessary . . to prove any discriminatory intent on the part of the relevant authorities’.
In an appropriate case statistics may be relied on to establish that an applicant is a member of a group which has been treated differently in practice from others in a comparable situation in a way which is disproportionately prejudicial to members of that group, and thereby shift the onus to the public body concerned to provide evidence of an objective and reasonable justification for the difference.
Judges:
Sir Nicolas Bratza, P
Citations:
57325/00, [2007] ECHR 922, [2008] ELR 17, 23 BHRC 526, (2008) 47 EHRR 3
Links:
Statutes:
European Convention on Human Rights
Jurisdiction:
Human Rights
Citing:
Appeal from – DH v Czech Repiublic ECHR 7-Feb-2006
The claimants, 18 Roma children complained, saying that they had automatically been placed in schools for children with special needs by virtue of their racial origin. . .
Cited by:
Cited – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v United Kingdom ECHR 4-Mar-2014
latterdayECHR0314
The claimant said that it had been wrongfully deprived of relief from business rates for its two temples. It asserted that it was a religion, and that the treatment was discriminatory. The government said that the refusal was on the basis alone that . .
Cited – SG and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions SC 18-Mar-2015
The court was asked whether it was lawful for the Secretary of State to make subordinate legislation imposing a cap on the amount of welfare benefits which can be received by claimants in non-working households, equivalent to the net median earnings . .
Cited – O’Connor v Bar Standards Board SC 6-Dec-2017
The claimant barrister complained of the manner of conduct of the disciplinary proceedings brought against her. She had been cleared of any breach of the Bar Code of Conduct, but her claim was then ruled out of time under section 7(5)(a), time . .
Cited – DA and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions SC 15-May-2019
Several lone parents challenged the benefits cap, saying that it was discriminatory.
Held: (Hale, Kerr LL dissenting) The parents’ appeals failed. The legislation had a clear impact on lone parents and their children. The intention was to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Children, Human Rights, Education
Leading Case
Updated: 07 February 2022; Ref: scu.511022