Condensed entry: No one should be discriminated in access to credit and other productive resources such as land. States must adopt measures, which should include legislation, to ensure that individuals and entities in the private sphere do not discriminate on prohibited grounds. Discrimination in the access to credit and productive resources is particularly manifest with regard to women. Women in rural areas have a right to have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities, appropriate technology and equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes. Comprehensive entry: No one should be discriminated in access to credit and productive resources.[1] Discrimination in the access to credit and productive resources is particularly manifest with regard to women. As noted by the World Bank: ‘Women continue to have systematically poorer command over a range of productive resources, including education, land, information, and financial resources.’[2] (See *discrimination between men and women*). Despite the significant roles women play in agriculture and food security in many developing countries, they continue to have a poorer command over a range of productive resources, including education, land, information, and financial resources.[3] CEDAW article 14(2)(g) provides:[4] States parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, that they participate in and benefit from rural development and, in particular, shall ensure to such women the right: … (g) To have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities, appropriate technology and equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes. The CEDAW Committee has noted that ‘[w]hen a woman cannot enter into a contract at all, or have access to financial credit, or can do so only with her husband's or a male relative's concurrence or guarantee, she is denied legal autonomy.’[5] This violates article 15(2) of CEDAW which provides: States parties shall accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals. The UN Forum on Minority Issues has recommended that:[6] Financial services, including credit services, should be monitored to ensure non-discriminatory access to such services by minorities. Special measures should be taken to ensure access by minority women to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit. Where applicable, culturally or religiously appropriate lending practices should be encouraged. The CESCR has proclaimed that ‘states parties must … adopt measures, which should include legislation, to ensure that individuals and entities in the private sphere do not discriminate on prohibited grounds.’[7] As pointed out in the Principles and Guidelines for a Human Rights Approach to Poverty Reduction Strategies:[8] Even when explicit acts of discrimination are not involved, people living in poverty may still face impediments because of the disadvantages that ensue from the state of poverty itself. Thus, poverty may prevent them from gaining adequate access to education, health care, credit, infrastructure, etc. Without such access, they will not have the assets—human, financial or physical—that are necessary for realizing the right to work. The human rights principle of equality and non-discrimination requires that priority be accorded to eliminating these impediments faced by the poor. According to the CESCR states have an obligation to respect and support microcredit schemes.[9] [1] CESCR General Comment 12 (1999) para 26. See also the various general prohibitions of discrimination in eg ICCPR art 26 & ICESCR art 2(2).
[3] World Bank Engendering Development through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources and Voice. World Bank Policy Research Report 21776 (2001).
[4] See also Protocol to the ACHPR on the Rights of Women in Africa art 19(c) and (d).
[5] CEDAW General Recommendation 21 (1994) para 7.
[6] Recommendations of the Forum on Minority Issues at its third session, on minorities and effective participation in economic life (14 and 15 December 2010), A/HRC/16/46.
No one should be discriminated in access to credit and other productive resources such as land. States must adopt measures, which should include legislation, to ensure that individuals and entities in the private sphere do not discriminate on prohibited grounds. Discrimination in the access to credit and productive resources is particularly manifest with regard to women. Women in rural areas have a right to have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities, appropriate technology and equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes.
Comprehensive entry:
No one should be discriminated in access to credit and productive resources.[1] Discrimination in the access to credit and productive resources is particularly manifest with regard to women. As noted by the World Bank: ‘Women continue to have systematically poorer command over a range of productive resources, including education, land, information, and financial resources.’[2] (See *discrimination between men and women*). Despite the significant roles women play in agriculture and food security in many developing countries, they continue to have a poorer command over a range of productive resources, including education, land, information, and financial resources.[3]
CEDAW article 14(2)(g) provides:[4]
States parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, that they participate in and benefit from rural development and, in particular, shall ensure to such women the right: …
(g) To have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities, appropriate technology and equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes.
The CEDAW Committee has noted that ‘[w]hen a woman cannot enter into a contract at all, or have access to financial credit, or can do so only with her husband's or a male relative's concurrence or guarantee, she is denied legal autonomy.’[5] This violates article 15(2) of CEDAW which provides:
States parties shall accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals.
The UN Forum on Minority Issues has recommended that:[6]
Financial services, including credit services, should be monitored to ensure non-discriminatory access to such services by minorities. Special measures should be taken to ensure access by minority women to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit. Where applicable, culturally or religiously appropriate lending practices should be encouraged.
The CESCR has proclaimed that ‘states parties must … adopt measures, which should include legislation, to ensure that individuals and entities in the private sphere do not discriminate on prohibited grounds.’[7]
As pointed out in the Principles and Guidelines for a Human Rights Approach to Poverty Reduction Strategies:[8]
Even when explicit acts of discrimination are not involved, people living in poverty may still face impediments because of the disadvantages that ensue from the state of poverty itself. Thus, poverty may prevent them from gaining adequate access to education, health care, credit, infrastructure, etc. Without such access, they will not have the assets—human, financial or physical—that are necessary for realizing the right to work. The human rights principle of equality and non-discrimination requires that priority be accorded to eliminating these impediments faced by the poor.
According to the CESCR states have an obligation to respect and support microcredit schemes.[9]
[1] CESCR General Comment 12 (1999) para 26. See also the various general prohibitions of discrimination in eg ICCPR art 26 & ICESCR art 2(2).
[2] World Bank Engendering development (2011) 5.
[3] World Bank Engendering Development through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources and Voice. World Bank Policy Research Report 21776 (2001).
[4] See also Protocol to the ACHPR on the Rights of Women in Africa art 19(c) and (d).
[5] CEDAW General Recommendation 21 (1994) para 7.
[6] Recommendations of the Forum on Minority Issues at its third session, on minorities and effective participation in
economic life (14 and 15 December 2010), A/HRC/16/46.
[7]CESCR General Comment 20 (2009) para 11.
[8]Para 123.
[9] CESCR General Comment 19 (2008) para 34.