Назад

Themes: Право на равенство и свободу от дискриминации Венгрия

Weller v. Hungary | 2009

The Court . . . considers that the entitlement due to a family under [domestic law] cannot be dependent on which of the two biological parents of the children is a Hungarian national.

Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, June 2009

Background

A young family was unable to get a maternity allowance because the mother was not Hungarian – even though her husband and twin boys had been born in Hungary.

The boys’ father, Lajos, had applied for financial help from the state in his own name and on behalf of the newborns, Dániel and Máté, in 2005.

However, the authorities refused their claim, pointing to a law which said that only mothers, adoptive parents and guardians could apply for the help.

Lajos appealed but was rejected again. This time the authorities told him that only Hungarian mothers could apply, although exceptions were made for refugees or EU citizens who had a settlement permit in Hungary.

Lajos’s wife lived legally in the country but did not have settled status. She was a citizen of Romania, which was not part of the EU at the time.

Lajos took legal action to challenge the decisions, arguing discrimination, but a Hungarian court dismissed his claim.

Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights

The European court ruled that Hungary had unfairly discriminated against Lajos, Dániel and Máté by excluding them from maternity benefits.

In the court’s view, the allowance was intended to support newborn children and the whole family raising them, not just the new mother (as the Hungarian government had argued).

The court pointed out that the family could have received support if Lajos was a foreigner and his wife Hungarian. There was no justification for this practice.

Moreover, the Hungarian authorities had also failed to justify why natural fathers should be excluded from the benefit, even though mothers, adoptive parents and guardians could apply for it.

Follow-up

In response to the European court’s judgment, the Hungarian government changed the law to allow every mother legally residing in Hungary, regardless of their nationality, to apply for maternity benefits.

Additional information

Themes:

Соответствующие примеры

Vulnerable victims of domestic violence gain exemption from “bedroom tax”

A woman at severe risk of domestic violence faced eviction from her specially-adapted home because cuts to housing benefits meant she could no longer afford the rent. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the woman was discriminated against because of her gender. The UK then changed the law to exempt women like her from changes to the benefit rules.

Themes: Право на собственность Право на равенство и свободу от дискриминации Обеспечение свободы женщин от насилия Соединенное Королевство

Read more

Однополая пара выиграла дело о дискриминации после отказа в предоставлении медицинской страховки

П. Б. и Й. С. хотели совместно быть застрахованы в рамках медицинской страховки Й. С. для гражданских служащих, однако просьба П. Б. была отклонена, так как он являлся однополым партнером. Европейский суд постановил, что Австрия несправедливо дискриминировала П. Б. и Й. С. до того момента, когда закон о страховании был изменен, чтобы исключить прямое упоминание гетеросексуальных пар.

Themes: Право на равенство и свободу от дискриминации Права человека и здоровье Австрия

Read more