Human rights in Costa Rica
Its main functions are the monitoring of human rights conditions, receiving complaints of violations and visiting the countries and areas where said reports occur.
[14] The commission also carries out promotion activities, including the publishing of human rights reports accessible to the public and education programmes.
[1] Marriage is usually consensual, on the basis on love, with divorces legal and usually favouring women in terms of division of assets and custody of children.
[7] Due to greater access to education, alongside economic necessity, women now constitute approximately 36% of the labour force, predominantly in manufacturing industries.
[7] Female participation in business and science industries still remains low, despite women now being able to manage and own assets, such as wealth and properties.
[1][7] Pre and post-natal care has been reported as exceptional in Costa Rica, both mother and infant mortality rates low comparative to the rest of the world.
[19] This decreased to some degree by the influx of undocumented migrants, commonly referred to as “aliens”; negative stigma around refugees rose, partly due to a rise in crime and a reduction in the level of jobs available to Costa Ricans.
[19] This accessible health care partly stems from the fear that refugees bring diseases which will impact Costa Ricans if not treated.
[19] The influx of illegal immigrants over the past decades caused refugee rights to fall as negative stigma rose.
[21] These measures mark a significant shift from previous laws that facilitated easier integration of refugees and asylum seekers into the labor market.
[citation needed] This can in part be attributed to the continued influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Costa Rica, citizens more socially conservative.
[11] In 1990 Government Minister Desanti placed a ban on foreign women travelling alone, with short hair or wearing pants, from entering Costa Rica, in case they were there to participate in a national meeting of Lesbians, known as “Encuentro”; it was not until the late 1990s that the Costa Rican Supreme Court ruled that the right of LGBT people to peaceful assembly was outlined in the constitution.
[22] Other examples of discrimination include Luis Fishman banning individuals identifying as LGBT as serving on the police force in 1993.
[22] Despite this resistance, since 2010 there has been significant improvements in LGBT rights, largely facilitated by lawyer Yashin Castrillo in 2013 when he was prohibited from marrying his partner.
[11] Castrillo contested this greatly, bringing the issue into the limelight, predominantly through his claims that the Family Codes, which prevent same-sex couples from marrying, violate Articles 28, 33 and 39 of the Costa Rican Constitution.
[23] In 2018, Costa Rica's Supreme Court ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage violated the rights of LGBT individuals, being discriminatory and unconstitutional.
[8] Costa Rica ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on August 21, 1990, meaning it is legally obliged to uphold the articles it entails.
[24][25] Costa Rica's president in 2009, Oscar Arias Sanchez, stated this convention ‘changed generations’, seeing large children rights improvements across the county.
[24][5] The most important elements within this convention are the child's inalienable right to life, freedom of self-expression, respect of their opinions and non-discrimination on any physical or mental basis.
[5] The policy aims to reiterate the UNCRC to further guarantee and achieve all of the rights of the child, focussing on vulnerable and excluded groups which require extra, specific protection and assistance.
