574. When Article 14 is engaged.

Article 14¹ does not provide a free-standing right to equality: rather, it confers such right only in respect of the enjoyment of other rights in the European Convention on Human Rights², of which it has been described as an 'integral aspect'³. Therefore in order to engage Article 14 the subject-matter must first fall within the 'ambit' of another Convention right⁴, and in order to prove discrimination under Article 14 there must then be established a difference of treatment between the applicant and other persons in relevantly similar situations, on a ground protected (explicitly or otherwise) by Article 14, which