Mr President,
Allow me to extend the gratitude of Sweden to His Excellency Bruno Stagno, Minister of Foreign Affairs, for taking an active part in our dialogue.
Sweden welcomes that Costa Rica has ratified all major human rights treaties, including the Rome Statue. We also welcome last year’s amendment in the Family Code, to completely prohibit violence against children. There are reports, however, indicating that violence against children still occurs, also within the home.
For that reason, we recommend the Government (1) to take further measures to ensure the full protection of children from all forms of violence.
Secondly, we welcome the efforts to combat trafficking, as outlined in your national report, but still both ECOSOC and the CAT committee have expressed concern over the persistence in Costa Rica of trafficking of men, women and children for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor. It has been maintained that Costa Rican legislation is focused primarily on international trafficking, which hamper efforts to counter trafficking within the country.
Sweden would recommend the government (2) to strengthen its efforts to train law enforcement officials to effectively work against trafficking of persons and (3) to provide improved assistance to victims of trafficking.
Lastly, we are also concerned about the situation in Costa Rica when it comes to rising insecurity and threat of organized crime, access to justice and impunity, as well as labour rights.
Thank you, Mr President