"RELATING TO CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE LAWS ON THE USE OF LANGUAGES
IN EDUCATION IN BELGIUM" v. BELGIUM (MERITS) JUDGMENT
9
(f) Article 8 of the Convention, read in conjunction with Article 14 (art. 14+8).
In particular the Belgian Government requests the Court to find that in the case of
the Applicants none of those Articles, whether considered in conjunction or in
isolation, has been violated, inter alia:
(a) in so far as the Acts of 1932 prevented, and those of 1963 prevent: the
establishment, or the subsidisation by the State, of schools not in conformity with
the general linguistic requirements;
(b) in so far as the Acts of 1963 result in the total withdrawal of subsidies from
provincial, commune or private schools providing, in the form of non-subsidised
classes and in addition to the instruction given in the language prescribed by the
linguistic Acts, full or partial instruction in another language;
(c) with regard to the special status conferred by Section 7 (1) and (3) of the Act of
2nd August 1963 on six communes, of which Kraainem is one, on the periphery of
Brussels;
(d) with regard to the conditions on which children whose parents reside outside the
Greater Brussels district may be enrolled in the schools of that district (Section 17 of
the Act of 30th July 1963);
(e) in so far as the last paragraph of Section 7 of the Act of 30th July 1963 and
Section 7 (1) and (3) of the Act of 2nd August 1963 prevent certain children, solely
on the basis of their parents’ place of residence, from attending French-language
schools at Louvain and in the six communes mentioned under (c) above;
(f) in so far as the Acts of 1932 resulted, and those of 1963 result, in refusal to
homologate certificates relating to secondary schooling not in conformity with the
language requirements in education.
Auxiliary submission
If the Court accepts the Commission’s opinion that the first sentence of Article 2 of
the Protocol, read in conjunction with Article 14 (art. 14+P1-2) of the Convention,
lays down an obligation not to discriminate, then
May it please the Court:
To rule that the Belgian legislation complained of is in accordance with that
requirement as it provides for no unlawful or arbitrary discrimination against the
Applicants within the meaning of Article 14 (art. 14) of the Convention:
May it please the Court:
To rule that the Applicants’ complaints are without foundation."
- by the Commission, on 29th November 1967:
"It only remains for me to confirm the submissions made by the Commission in its
memorial of 11th July 1967."