"RELATING TO CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE LAWS ON THE USE OF LANGUAGES
IN EDUCATION IN BELGIUM" v. BELGIUM (MERITS) JUDGMENT
79
"obtain a legally recognised degree", whereas the latter, even if he
successfully pursues the "same studies" at university must be satisfied with
a non-recognised ("scientifique") degree, unless "he has passed a full
examination before the Central Board in the language of his choice". It is
true that these rules apply equally to "schooling completed in the Dutch
language in an establishment in Wallonia". In practice, however, they
hardly touch education given in Dutch: although "before the 1932 Acts there
were French secondary schools in the Flemish region", "no one has stated
before the Commission that there were at that time Dutch secondary schools
in Wallonia". Here again the "parallelism" invoked by the Belgian
Government "works solely against the French-speaking population".
This being so, eight members of the Commission express the opinion that
the refusal to grant homologation infringes the right to education as it is
jointly defined by Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) and Article 14 (art. 14) of
the Convention.
It is true that "neither the Convention nor the Protocol guarantees access
to any functions or occupations whatsoever". The first sentence of Article 2
of the Protocol (P1-2) nevertheless enshrines, "in spite of its negative
formulation", "the right of every person to education". Now, in our age,
education is not "in the immense majority of cases", an "end in itself".
"Those who receive instruction (...) do so not disinterestedly, but with the
intention of preparing themselves for the work" upon which they propose to
embark on completion of their studies. To the Commission, "the right to
education would be only an illusion if it did not include the right to draw
full benefit from education", and Article 2 (P1-2) would be "meaningless" if
it were accepted that it did no more than guarantee the right "to a purely
humanist education". "Any legislation which, while not denying anyone the
right to education, were to lay down discriminatory measures with regard to
the advantages that individuals or groups of individuals may derive from
their education", including "the exercise of those functions or professions to
which the education in question normally gives access", would not, in the
Commission’s view, violate "Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) considered in
isolation" but would infringe "that Article read in conjunction with Article
14 (art. 14+P1-2) of the Convention", for it would not "secure enjoyment of
the right to education for everyone without discrimination".
In Belgium, certain advantages are reserved to the holders of
homologated certificates. In order to determine whether or not this
constitutes a "discrimination" incompatible with Article 14 (art. 14), the
Commission considers it necessary to examine closely the "reasons" behind
the refusal to grant homologation. In its opinion what are involved are not
"academic considerations" (cf. supra), nor administrative reasons. On this
last point, the Commission admits that the Belgian State does not inspect
"schools which do not observe the linguistic legislation". It observes,
however, that "it would be of no use for a school which did not comply"