European rights court finds Switzerland guilty of unequal treatment of widowers

By Alaattin Dogru

ANKARA (AA) - The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday found Switzerland guilty of unequal treatment of widowers compared to widows.

The ruling was given in the case of Max Beeler, who, after losing his wife in an accident in 1994, raised their two young children by himself.

Swiss authorities terminated his widower's pension when his younger daughter turned 18. Beeler brought the case to the Swiss courts but after his appeal was rejected, he resorted to the European Court of Human Rights.

The European rights court ruled that Swiss laws, stipulating that government aid is given to widows for life but widowers be cut off when their youngest child turns the age of majority, is discriminatory and contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.

"The Government had not shown that there were very strong reasons or 'particularly weighty and convincing reasons' justifying the difference in treatment on grounds of sex," the court said in a statement.

It further noted that the Swiss government "could not rely on the presumption that the husband supported the wife financially (the "male breadwinner" concept) in order to justify a difference in treatment that put widowers at a disadvantage in relation to widows."

The court also ruled that Switzerland should pay Beeler €5,000 ($4,850) in non-pecuniary damage and €16,500 for expenses.