Information Note on the Court’s case-law 193
February 2016
Çam v. Turkey - 51500/08
Judgment 23.2.2016 [Section II]
Article 14
Discrimination
Refusal by academy of music to enrol blind person despite her having passed competitive entrance examination: violation
Facts – The applicant, who was blind, passed the entrance examination for a music academy after having successfully taken the practical tests for mastery of the Turkish lute. According to a report drawn up by a medical board and transmitted to the music academy, she could attend lessons in the sections of the academy where eyesight was not required. At the request of the director of the music academy, the report was amended to mention the fact that the applicant “could not receive education or training”. The academy rejected the applicant’s request for enrolment. Her appeal against that decision was dismissed by the domestic courts. The applicant submitted to the European Court that the rejection of her request for enrolment in the music academy had been discriminatory because it had been based on her blindness.
Law – Article 14 in conjunction with Article 2 of Protocol No. 1: The fact that the academy in question primarily provided teaching in the artistic field did not justify precluding from the scope of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 scrutiny of the criteria for acceding to that institution.
Various legislative provisions in force at the material time enshrined the right of children with disabilities to education without discrimination. Therefore, the origin of the applicant’s exclusion from education in the music academy lay not in the legislation but in the academy’s rules, which required all applicants for enrolment to provide a medical certificate of physical ability. The Court could not overlook the effects of such a requirement on persons like the applicant with a physical disability. Noting the ease with which the music academy had secured a revision of the medical report provided by the applicant, there could be no doubt that her blindness had
