Pressemitteilung  

Der Kanzler des Europäischen Gerichtshofs für Menschenrechte

05/09/06 Gerichtshof – Kammerurteile das Vereinigte Königreich betreffend [en]

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

482
5.9.2006

Press release issued by the Registrar

Chamber judgments concerning the United Kingdom

The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing the following two friendly-settlement Chamber judgments, both of which are final.¹

Repetitive cases²
Friendly settlement
Greenhalgh v. the United Kingdom (application no 61956/00)
Hyde v. the United Kingdom (no. 63287/00)
The applicants, David Greenhalgh and Lee Hyde, are British nationals who were born in 1954 and 1962, respectively. Mr Greenhalgh lives in Manchester and Mr Hyde lives in Upminster (United Kingdom).

Both applicants were refused widow’s benefits on the ground that they were not women. They appealed unsuccessfully.

They complained that they were denied social security benefits equivalent to those received by female widows. They relied on Articles 8 (right to respect for family life) and 14 (prohibition on discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Both cases were struck out following friendly settlements according to which Mr Greenhalgh received 3,888.59 pounds sterling (GBP) (approximately 5,758 euros (EUR)), and Mr Hyde received GBP 8,703.53 (approximately EUR 12,887). (The judgments are available only in English.)

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The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.