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Article

16 May 2013

Author:
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

UN disability rights body confirms that equal access to banking services should be granted to all [Hungary]

UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, issued an unprecedented decision on a case involving...two visually impaired complainants from Hungary…The ruling of the disability rights body was made in favour of the two plaintiffs who…put forth the “failure by [Hungary’s] authorities to eliminate discrimination on the ground of disability by a private credit institution and to ensure that persons with visual impairments have an unimpeded access to the services provided by the ATMs on the equal basis with the other clients”. Both claimants were clients of the OTP Bank Zrt. and paid annual fees, equal to those paid by sighted clients, for banking card services and transactions. However, Nyusti and Takács were unable to use the OTP ATM machines without assistance, as the keyboards were not marked with Braille fonts, nor did they provide voice assistance...OTP [argued]...the extra services demanded by the plaintiffs would constitute positive discrimination, which could only be prescribed by law.