Human trafficking in Costa Rica

[1] Costa Rica is a source, transit, and destination country for goods and products, a great location for trade in the seas.

Costa Rica is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea making it a source of imports and exports.

[3] To a lesser but increasing extent, in 2018 Costa Rica was a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to conditions of forced labor, particularly in the agriculture, construction, fishing, and domestic service sectors.

[4] The economy greatly depends on the exportation of bananas and coffee, making high demands of agriculture work.

[5] In 2010, young men from Nicaragua, Vietnam, China and other Asian countries were subjected to conditions of forced labor in Costa Rica.

[6] By 2018 Costa Rican women and children were forced into commercial sexual exploitation due to high rates of poverty and violence.

Women and girls from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia, and Panama were identified in as victims of forced prostitution.

[4] In 2018 the Government of Costa Rica did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it made significant efforts to do so.

[24] The Costa Rican government is working to establish firm foundations and fund other organizations to aid in the elimination and prevention of human trafficking within the country.

Starting in 2016, the government donated $1.15 million to create a headquarters for National Coalition against Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons (CONATT) which will aid in increasing awareness and also house a 24 hour emergency response team and as a short term shelter for victims.

[25] While Rahab Foundation, a local organization, is working with police to help train them to recognize the signs of a trafficked victim and help get them out of harms way.

According to the Costa Rica Star, a local newspaper, in 2017 the government started providing more of the national budget to NGO's, who work to fight against trafficking.

[27] After refreshing government policies, NGOs are responding to victims right away by providing food, shelter, and financial and psychological assistance.

[28] Some other ways prevention is taking place is the government passing laws and other policies to discourage human trafficking acts.

[4] By making it illegal and prosecuting offenders, it will aid in discouraging human trafficking due to the fear of consequences.

Article 172 of the penal code, which was amended in April 2009, prescribes penalties of six to 10 years’ imprisonment for the movement of persons both across borders and within the country for the purposes of prostitution, sexual or labor servitude, slavery, forced work or services, servile marriage, forced begging, or other forms of compelled service.

Sentences may be increased to eight to 16 years’ imprisonment under aggravated circumstances, such as the victimization of a child or a trafficker’s use of deception, violence, intimidation, or coercion.

[31] Articles 376 and 377 of the penal code additionally prohibit child sex trafficking, prescribing penalties of two to four years’ imprisonment.

[32] Insufficient familiarity with the new legislation, however, hindered the enforcement of these laws, and the government continued to use other statutes to prosecute trafficking offenders involved in the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

A new immigration law, effective March 2010, authorizes temporary residency status specifically for foreign trafficking victims.

[39] Some NGO's currently working within Costa Rica include: Alianza por tus Derecho is an active organization that is aiming to generate programs that promote and validate the human rights children have to eliminate the exploitation and abuse they endure during labor.

The government, in partnership with UNICEF and other international organizations, continued the “Don’t Let Them Lie to You” anti-trafficking prevention campaign, which reached a projected fifty percent of the adult and adolescent population between October 2008 and June 2009.