Financial rights refer to the ability of individuals to access, use, and control financial services and resources in ways that support their autonomy, agency, and overall well-being. This encompasses not only access to essential financial services—such as payments, savings, credit, and insurance—but also rights associated with financial consumer protection, including transparency, protection from unfair or discriminatory practices, mechanisms for redress, and financial privacy.
While not yet widely recognized as standalone human rights, financial rights can be understood as deriving from other fundamental human rights. The ability to access financial services is essential for exercising rights such as access to education, healthcare, and an adequate standard of living. The exclusion of over 1.7 billion adults from formal financial systems raises serious human rights concerns, perpetuating cycles of poverty and marginalization. Recognizing financial participation as an enabler of human rights is therefore crucial for ensuring these interconnected and inalienable rights are fully realized. Rather than framing financial inclusion as an isolated issue, it should be increasingly understood as substantiating a broader economic right that allows people to actively participate in financial and economic life.
The Legal Foundation of Financial Rights
International human rights originate from multiple legal sources, including international conventions, customary international law, general principles recognized by nations, and judicial decisions. Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice explicitly identifies these sources as fundamental to defining rights under international law. Human rights, including the right to financial agency, evolve through a combination of legal agreements, state practices, and widely accepted legal principles.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 establishes economic and social rights, most notably in Article 25, which states:
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”
This provision underscores the inherent connection between economic stability and human dignity. These rights increasingly depend on access to fair and inclusive financial services in a globalized financial economy. Without mechanisms that enable financial participation, individuals are effectively denied their agency in economic decision-making.
Although Article 25 does not explicitly mention financial access, its spirit is deeply intertwined with the need for an inclusive financial system. Economic and social security cannot be realized without mechanisms that facilitate economic participation, enable wealth accumulation, and ensure financial resilience. Financial exclusion, therefore, is not just an economic disadvantage—it is a direct impediment to realizing fundamental human rights.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights of 1976 builds upon this framework by obligating states to take steps to realize these rights fully. Article 11 states that it:
“... recognize[s] the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.”
This provision thus imposes a duty on states to implement measures that promote financial stability and enable substantive financial participation, rather than merely providing access. Furthermore, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights emphasize corporate responsibility in preventing financial exclusion, recognizing that businesses play a significant role in ensuring equitable access to economic resources.
Financial Exclusion as a Human Rights Violation
Digital financial exclusion disproportionately affects women, rural populations, and individuals with disabilities. Without access to digital financial services, these communities are locked out of opportunities for wealth generation, entrepreneurship, and participation in the digital economy. Instead of solely focusing on the unbanked, financial rights should be framed as the right to economic agency in a system that is evolving beyond traditional banking.
In addition to economic implications, digital financial exclusion can limit political and social participation. In societies where financial services are increasingly digitized, the inability to access digital banking and payment systems restricts individuals from accessing government benefits, making online purchases, or engaging in civic activities requiring digital financial transactions. This creates a cycle of disenfranchisement that extends beyond the economy and into broader societal exclusion. Thus, ensuring financial access is not just about inclusion but restoring agency to those systematically excluded from economic participation.
The rapid digitization of financial services has also introduced new risks of exclusion. While financial technology has the potential to expand access, it often assumes that users have Internet connectivity, digital and financial literacy, and access to identification documents. These prerequisites can become significant barriers for those who are already financially marginalized. To substantiate financial rights, policymakers and innovators must reimagine economic structures in ways that do not simply replicate the exclusionary aspects of traditional banking but create alternative models for financial agency.
The Derivative Nature of Digital Financial Inclusion
Digital financial inclusion operates as a derivative right—one that enables individuals to claim other fundamental rights. In a digital economy, the ability to access credit, savings, and fair financial services is increasingly mediated through digital infrastructure. This includes access to devices, mobile connectivity, digital identity systems, and the digital skills needed to navigate these platforms effectively. The right to credit, savings, and fair financial services extends the right to be free from poverty. Economic rights are often contingent on access to financial mechanisms; without financial services (digital or otherwise), individuals lack the means to exercise their legal rights to property, enter into contracts, or engage in commerce. In digital contexts, barriers such as algorithmic discrimination, opaque automated decision-making, and lack of digital literacy can further entrench exclusion. The issue is not just about financial inclusion but ensuring that financial structures serve as tools for autonomy rather than barriers to participation.
The doctrine of positive obligations in human rights law supports this classification. Governments have a duty to refrain from actions that impede rights and to take proactive measures to ensure that essential preconditions for rights realization are met. Just as states must provide educational infrastructure to fulfill the right to education, they must also implement regulatory frameworks that guarantee financial access. In digital contexts, this includes investing in connectivity infrastructure, promoting digital literacy, ensuring accessibility standards for digital platforms, and regulating data use and automated decision-making systems to prevent discrimination and abuse. In regional human rights instruments, similar obligations exist. The European Social Charter affirms the right to social and economic protection, including financial services. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights similarly recognizes the right to economic, social, and cultural development, which is unattainable without financial participation. As digital channels become dominant, fulfilling these rights increasingly depends on equitable access to digital financial systems.Likewise, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has established jurisprudence that links economic participation to broader human rights frameworks, affirming that economic marginalization can constitute a human rights violation.
National legal frameworks also reflect the growing recognition of financial access as a human right. Several countries have enshrined financial inclusion policies into law. In India, while the Supreme Court has not explicitly declared access to banking a fundamental right, jurisprudence under Article 21 has expanded the right to life in ways that support arguments for financial inclusion as a constitutional entitlement—particularly in the context of welfare delivery, Aadhaar-linked services, and state obligations to ensure dignity and livelihood. South Africa’s Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act has been interpreted to require financial institutions to take active steps to prevent exclusion. In the United States, the Community Reinvestment Act mandates that financial institutions serve low-income and marginalized communities, reinforcing the idea that financial access is a societal obligation rather than a discretionary service. Some countries have also introduced digital-specific legislation—such as data protection laws, digital identity regulations, or fintech oversight mechanisms—that aim to ensure digital financial systems uphold human rights standards, particularly around consent, transparency, and redress.
Legal scholars have identified multiple pathways through which human rights, including financial rights, become recognized as international norms. International treaties and agreements remain the most explicit statements of human rights, carrying the greatest legal weight. However, human rights can also emerge through customary international law, which derives from consistent state practices and a general acceptance of certain rights as binding legal obligations. Judicial decisions and legal scholarship further reinforce these rights by interpreting existing legal frameworks and shaping their application to new challenges. As digital technologies reshape the financial landscape, new international norms are emerging at the intersection of digital rights and economic rights. These include growing recognition of digital connectivity, data protection, and algorithmic accountability as essential to enabling meaningful financial participation. This dynamic process of rights formation means that a legal recognition of digital financial inclusion as a human right can continue to evolve in response to technological and economic changes.
Affirming the Role of Digital Financial Inclusion in Human Rights
While digital financial inclusion is not yet recognized as an independent human right, it is a structural necessity that facilitates the enjoyment of other internationally recognized rights. Rather than solely advocating for financial inclusion, the focus should be on recognizing and substantiating the right to financial participation as a fundamental economic right.
The Interledger Foundation is committed to further investigating the role of digital financial inclusion in the broader human rights landscape. As financial technology continues to evolve, it is essential to ensure that emerging digital financial systems are designed with accessibility, fairness, and human rights in mind. By expanding beyond traditional banking models and rethinking financial access as a matter of economic rights, we can advocate for a more inclusive, empowering, and innovative financial ecosystem. We support research, advocacy, and policy engagement efforts to advance digital financial inclusion as a core human rights issue, and we are working to build an equitable global financial system that serves everyone, everywhere.
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