18 Feb Discrimination against blind chess players in Serbia

In the case of Negovanović and Others v. Serbia (application no. 29907/16 and 3 others, 25.01.2022) the European Court of Human Rights held, by a majority of five votes to two, that there had been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 (general prohibition of discrimination) to the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerned alleged discrimination by the Serbian authorities against blind chess players, its own nationals, who had won medals at major international events, notably in the Blind Chess Olympiad. Unlike other Serbian athletes with disabilities and sighted chess players who had attained the same or similar sporting results, the applicants had been denied certain financial benefits and awards for their achievements as well as formal recognition through an honorary diploma which, they alleged, had had a negative effect on their reputations.

The Court rejected Government’s objection as to the non-exhaustion of domestic remedies, noting that the complaints concerned allegations of discrimination and that it was not unreasonable for the blind chess players to have sought redress on the basis of the national anti-discrimination legislation, which specifically provided for various forms of relief to victims of such treatment as well as compensation for any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage suffered. An administrative dispute would not have offered a more reasonable prospect of success. 

The Court has already held that States have considerably little leeway (“margin of appreciation”) in
establishing different legal treatment for people with disabilities. Since the Serbian authorities had decided to set up a sporting achievements recognition and rewards system, they had to do so in such a way as to comply with Article 1 of Protocol No. 12. While it was legitimate for the Serbian authorities to focus on the highest sporting achievements and the most important competitions in its award system, they had not shown why the high accolades won by the applicants, as blind chess players, were less significant than similar medals won by sighted chess players.  The prestige of a game or a sport should not depend on whether it is practiced by persons with or without a disability. Indeed, the Court noted that the decree itself had placed the Olympics and the Paralympics on an equal footing and thus regarded the achievements of disabled sportsmen and sportswomen as meriting equal recognition. Moreover, the distinction between Olympic and non-Olympic sports which had been used as an argument by the Serbian Government was of no relevance since the Chess Olympiad for sighted chess players, which was among the listed competitions in the decree, was neither part of the Olympic nor the Paralympic Games. The Court concluded that there was no objective and reasonable justification for treating the blind chess players differently on the basis of their disability. There had accordingly been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 12.

Reference from the official website of the European Court of Human Rights