Access to Financial Services

—An Analysis from the Human Rights Perspective

SUN Shiyan & ZHANG Guijun

Abstract: There is a broad connection between finance and human rights, with finance having both positive and negative impacts on human rights. Everyone has a need for access to financial services. Documents in both the international human rights and international finance fields address the relationship between financial services and human rights. Among financial services, microcredit and inclusive finance have the closest connection to human rights and potentially the greatest impact on human rights. Access to financial services promotes economic, social, and cultural rights as well as the rights of specific groups. The conditions for access to financial services to promote human rights require the state to assume obligations to recognize, respect, protect, and fulfill the need for individuals to access financial services, and to ensure the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability of basic financial services. Access to financial services has played a significant role in China’s comprehensive victory in the battle of poverty alleviation, providing valuable experience for the international community in poverty eradication, achieving sustainable development goals, and protecting and promoting human rights.

Keywords: financial service · human rights perspective · inclusive finance · poverty eradication · 4A scheme