the restriction (see Smith and Grady, cited above, § 89). At the same time it must be stressed that military personnel are entitled to Convention protection and it cannot be said that they waive their rights under the Convention when they join the armed forces.
52. The Court has, however, accepted on several occasions that the rights of military personnel under Articles 5, 9, 10 and 11 of the Convention may, in certain circumstances, be restricted to a greater degree than would be permissible in the case of civilians (see Engel and Others, cited above, §§ 73 and 103; {Kalac} v. Turkey, 1 July 1997, § 28, Reports 1997-IV; Larissis and Others v. Greece, 24 February 1998, §§ 50 and 51, Reports 1998-I; Hadjianastassiou v. Greece, 16 December 1992, §§ 39 and 46, Series A No. 252; and Pasko v. Russia, No. 69519/01, § 86, 22 October 2009). It follows from the case-law cited above that a wide margin of appreciation is open to States wishing to impose restrictions on the rights of military personnel under Articles 5, 9, 10 and 11, taking into account the special conditions attaching to military life and the specific "duties" and "responsibilities" incumbent on members of the armed forces.
53. The situation is however different with respect to restrictions on family and private life protected by Article 8, in the sense that the States have a narrower margin of appreciation in that sphere. Indeed, the Court has found that the State may impose certain restrictions on the rights of military personnel where there is a real threat to the armed forces' operational effectiveness, as the proper functioning of an army is hardly imaginable without legal rules designed to prevent service personnel from undermining it. It has, however, added that the national authorities cannot rely on such rules to frustrate the exercise by individual members of the armed forces of their right to respect for their family or private life, which right applies as much to service personnel as it does to others within the jurisdiction of the State. Moreover, assertions as to a risk for operational effectiveness must be "substantiated by specific examples" (see Smith and Grady, cited above, § 89).
54. The gist of the present case is the difference in treatment between servicemen and servicewomen as regards entitlement to parental leave. By enabling the parent to stay at home, parental leave provides an opportunity for that parent to take care of the child in the earliest period of its life and to spend adequate time with it. The Court considers that, in their relations with their children, servicemen and servicewomen are in an analogous situation (see also paragraph 48 above). The Court considers that very weighty reasons are required to justify a difference in treatment between servicemen and servicewomen in this particularly important sphere of family life, which concerns parents' relations with their new-born children.
55. The Court observes that the Government have not provided any justification in that connection. It transpires, however, from the ruling by the Constitutional Court (see paragraph 19 above) that the limitation of rights, such as the right to parental leave, imposed on male military personnel has the aim of ensuring the operational effectiveness of the army and, consequently, of protecting national security. Whilst that aim is without doubt legitimate, this does not in itself establish the legitimacy of the special treatment of the male military personnel as regards the parental leave entitlement. It has to be ascertained whether there is a reasonable relationship of proportionality between the means employed and the aim pursued.
56. In assessing the proportionality of the limitation of rights imposed on servicemen the Court has to examine whether the alleged damage to the operational effectiveness of the army is "substantiated by specific examples". Thus, although in the case of Smith and Gr
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