Human trafficking in Costa Rica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Costa Rica ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2003.[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.[2] Costa Rica is approximately 19,653 square miles of land, making it smaller than West Virginia.[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] Child sex tourism was a serious problem, particularly in the provinces of Guanacaste, Limón, Puntarenas, and San José. Child sex tourists arrived mostly from the United States and Europe.[4] Adults have been identified using trafficked women and children to transport and sell drugs.[7] Neighboring countries and cities were victims as well to forced labor many times trafficked to Costa Rica.[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. During the previous year, the Government of Costa Rica continued to raise public awareness about human trafficking and trained many government officials, investigated allegations, in addition to maintaining limited victim services.[7] However, the government’s law enforcement efforts lagged with respect to holding trafficking offenders accountable for their crimes and in adequately addressing domestic cases of human trafficking.[7] Recently insufficient funds were seen in distribution of government funded resources that help with trafficking.[7]
The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017, 2018 and 2023;[8][4][9] a Tier 2 country does not meet the minimum standards required to ending trafficking, but is making efforts.
Costa Rica is located in Central America. The capital of Costa Rica is San José. The population includes people of European, Spanish, African, Chinese, and Indigenous descent totaling in 4.9 million people.[10] The population includes four fifths of European descent while the other percentage is made up of the indigenous people Mestizos. Mestizos is a mix of European and Indian descent.[11] The languages include Spanish, Limonese, Bribrí, Cabécar, Maléku Jaíka, Boruca, and Térraba. The major religion is Roman Catholic. The other religions are Protestant, Jewish, and Mennonite.[10]
Costa Rica's economy runs on the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry. The important goods are sugar, coffee, bananas, pineapples, cut flowers, gourmet coffee, herbs, macadamia nuts, and palm oil. The fishing industry mostly includes tuna, shrimp, and tilapia. The agriculture is the most important natural resource for Costa Rica. One third of workers in Costa Rica are women.[10]
Costa Rica's government system includes a President, two Vice Presidents, and a unicameral Legislative Assembly. There are seven provinces in Costa Rica that are divided by districts. The governors are appointed by the President. In Costa Rica there is a single judge or a panel of judges. There are no juries and death penalty in Costa Rica.[10]
The age of consent is 15 years old.[12] In Costa Rica, prostitution is legal. Individuals have to be 18 years and older.[13] Prostitutes can be found in hotels, bars, clubs, and massage parlors. Sex workers have to provide proof that they are 18 or older. The government provides identification cards and free medical exams for sex workers.[14]
Slavery was abolished by the Federal Assembly of Guatemala in 1882. Slavery was abolished in Costa Rica on April 17, 1824. Black slaves were brought to Costa Rica with Spanish conquerors. Slaves would work on cacao and banana plantations. Slaves were used in the construction of the railroad. Women were concubines. Children who were born while their mothers were concubines were set free. Free slaves owned their own farms, worked on building railroads, worked for banana companies, cleared the forest, and migrated to other places. However, they were not considered citizens so they did not have legal rights to their farms. Their lands were taken by White Ticos (Costa Ricans).[15]
Types of Trafficking
Children, men, and women are victims of all types of trafficking.[4] Traffickers look for people who are vulnerable. The vulnerable population may be psychologically or emotionally vulnerable, there may be economic issues such as poverty, they may be unsupervised, they may be runaways, they may not speak the language, or they may fear the local law enforcement. These are factors that could lead someone to be in the presence of a trafficker.[16] Traffickers may use physical violence, psychological tactics, dehumanization, threats, manipulation, alcohol, drugs, false promises, or false job ads to seek out trafficker victims and to make them fear leaving.[17]
