Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women examines the report of Costa Rica

Committee on Elimination of Discrimination  
against Women

7 July 2017

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today considered the seventh periodic report of Costa Rica on its implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Introducing the report, Ms. Alejandra Mora Mora, Minister of the Status of Women, Executive President of the National Institute of Women, said that in Costa Rica, as in other countries, machismo continued to strongly affect all sectors of society, and such national context could limit the progress in the area of women’s rights.  The Government had placed economic autonomy of women at the top of the agenda and had adopted a number of measures in this domain, including the establishment of a special insurance scheme covering domestic workers and the creation the Management System for Gender Equality, an enterprise certification scheme to combat harassment at work and facilitate integration of women into the labour market.  The National Policy for Prevention and Attention to Violence against Women 2017-2032 had been adopted in June 2016 to focus attention on new forms of violence against women, with the emphasis on femicide.  In the area of political participation of women, it was now mandatory to consider gender parity in all voters' lists.  At the level of the Government, 40 per cent of the posts were currently held by women and adequate affirmative action initiatives have been adopted for rural women, indigenous and women of African descent, and women with disabilities.

Committee Experts congratulated Costa Rica on its 2016 Constitution which reaffirmed Costa Rica as a democratic, free and independent, multi-ethnic and multicultural Republic; noting the absence of a definition of discrimination against women, they stressed that the Constitution, the highest legislative document in the hierarchy of the law in the land, must highlight the most basic provisions on discrimination.  Religious fundamentalism and “el machismo” were major obstacles in the effective realization of women’s human rights, they said and asked how in this context of social polarisation, confessional state and conservatism, the Government intended to truly implement all provisions of the Convention and provide all rights to all women.  Experts were seriously concerned about the extremely high number of cases of domestic violence and the fact that very few reached the courts; the definition of trafficking in the law which was not in line with the international legal definition; unregistered migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking children who were more vulnerable to being trafficked; domestic violence against the elderly; and in general, the rights of rural women, especially with relation to territorial planning processes, land and inheritance, and the issue of dispossession of indigenous land.

In her concluding remarks, Ms. Mora thanked the Committee and stressed that if the reality of women changed, it would change everything.  Women were the key to development models and the vision of Costa Rica which was committee to their rights.

The delegation of Costa Rica included representatives of the Ministry of the Status of Women, the National Institute of Women, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, the Gender Commission Judicial Branch, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, and the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The Committee will next meet in public on Monday 10 July at 10 a.m. to hold an informal discussion with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions from Montenegro, Barbados, Niger and Nigeria, whose reports the Committee would consider in its second week of the sixty-seventh session.

Report

The seventh periodic report of Costa Rica can be accessed here: CEDAW/C/CRI/7. 

Presentation of the Report

ALEJANDRA MORA MORA, Minister of the Status of Women, Executive President of the National Institute of Women of Costa Rica, said that in the preparation of the report, thirty representatives of the public sector and civil society were consulted.  In the area of ​​women's rights, the national context had to be taken into account as it could limit the progress in this area, and in Costa Rica, as in other countries, machismo continued to strongly affect all sectors of society.  Women's rights were cross-cutting rights, she stressed, before recalling the inextricable link between discrimination and violence.  The Minister clarified that the legal instruments for the protection of human rights ratified by Costa Rica - treaties and conventions - had supra-constitutional value.  The current Government of President Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera had placed economic autonomy at the top of the agenda in the realization of women's rights.  Women were seen as workers who produced and transformed society, as people with skills and competencies required for the development of countries, and this had a domino effect on securing the other rights of women, including political, physical and sexual rights.  A number of measures had been undertaken in this domain, including the establishment of a special insurance scheme covering domestic workers, creation the Management System for Gender Equality, an enterprise certification scheme to combat harassment at work and facilitate integration of women into the labour market; and the establishment of an inspection mechanism for labour rights in order to monitor the compliance with the principles of international conventions in this field. 

Interdepartmental coordination efforts have also been made to improve the employability of women.  Among these measures, fairs had been organized at the national and regional levels for the sale of products from micro-enterprises run by women, and a programme had been developed to encourage the training of girls in technological and technical subjects.  The development bank granted credits for the creation of businesses in the amount of 160 million colones in 2016, an increase of 18.5 per cent over the previous year; approximately 25 per cent of that amount was for women-led projects.  Furthermore, the national legal framework for equality had been established, the reform of the labour law had been introduced to prohibit sex-based discrimination and a parity measure had been incorporated into the electoral law reform.  A law had been passed to strengthen the legal protection of abused children and adolescents and the Violence Act had been reformed to extend the term of protection of victims for an additional year.  The National Policy on Equity and Gender Equality a national pillar on women's rights, was now in its third action plan; in this context, strategic partnerships had been forged between the Government, the private sector and the civil society to better address gender inequalities and gender-based violence.

At the international level, following the first high-level meeting on the economic empowerment of women in 2016, chaired by Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera, the Ella aprende, ella emprende programme” ("She learns, She undertakes") had been developed in collaboration with Facebook to train women in the main tools of digital commerce.  Between 2015 and 2016, the rate of women experiencing extreme poverty in households had fallen by 1.6 per cent.  Turning to the support to women victims of violence, Ms. Mora Mora said that a legal and psychological counselling services had been established, and 3,275 new victims of violence had been taken care of between 2015 and 2016; 2,027 cases had been prosecuted.  The National Policy for Prevention and Attention to Violence against Women 2017-2032 had been adopted in June 2016 to focus attention on new forms of violence against women, with emphasis on femicide.  In the area of political participation of women, it was now mandatory to consider gender parity in all voters' lists.  At the government level, 40 per cent of the posts were currently held by women and adequate affirmative action initiatives have also been adopted for rural women, indigenous women, women of African descent, women with disabilities and women prisoners.  The right to social security of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples had been recognized and the civil registration of same-sex couples had been enabled, concluded the Minister.

Questions by Experts

In the first round of questions, Committee Experts congratulated Costa Rica on its 2016 Constitution which reaffirmed Costa Rica as a democratic, free and independent, multi-ethnic and multicultural Republic, but noted that there were no constitutional provisions or any other law containing the definition of discrimination against women as set out in the Convention.

Moving on to questions referring to the catholic confessional state, the Expert said that religious fundamentalism was a major obstacle in the realization of human rights of women.  How did the Government identify the major delays in courts related to women’s reproductive rights and sexuality?  How could the rights of women be made compatible with the confessional state?

Which entity was responsible for coordinating the already adopted laws and policies, did the Office of the Ombudsperson have a role in the inter-agency platform?  Did the inter-agency platform undertake other issues raised by other treaty bodies in relation to women?

Response by the Delegation

The delegation noted that article 47 of the Constitution ensured the direct application of international human rights treaties and said that since 2016, the reform of the labour law was ongoing and it was focused on gender-based discrimination.  Thus, if there was gender-based discrimination, it could be directly invoked.

Referring to the question on the catholic confessional state, a delegate said that the lack of human rights were not a result of the catholic religion, but rather of certain political parties, and also non-governmental organisations led by men who joined forces and systematically worked to undermine women’s progress, using demonstrations, marches and other methods.  They had systematically blocked all legal progress made thus far.

On inter-institutional coordination, a platform mechanism was being developed, made up of twenty-five institutions which were most important for implementing the provisions of the Convention.  A follow-up mechanism had been established in each relevant institution and ministry, where in the day-to-day activities and annual plans, the provisions of the Convention had to be implemented.  Whereas previously those tasks had been optional now they were core tasks of the institutions.

In follow-up questions, Experts asked whether migrant women, women with disabilities, and indigenous women could access justice in their own language.  They thanked the delegation for expressing frank opinion on the aggressive and unsympathetic resistance of men’s organisations to women’s rights, and encouraged Costa Rica to continue fighting.  Even if religion was not directly related, there could be under-the-surface forces connected to the religion which were part of those men’s organisations.  The delegation was asked how Costa Rica dealt with the social polarization in the Parliament, how it intended to integrate the existing policies with the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic nature of the society so that the multiple discrimination could be eliminated.

Another Expert said that the most basic provision on discrimination had to be highlighted in the Constitution which was the highest legislative document in the hierarchy of law in Costa Rica, but  the church and “el machismo” did not allow effective implementation of women’s human rights.  How did the State intend to truly implement all provisions of the Convention and to overcome conservatism and provide every right to all women?

The delegation responded by saying that the programme against gender-based violence had been drafted in 2015 and it aimed to make women professionals and those in the media aware of issues faced by women.  One of them was called “I am a woman.” Women were given clear and accessible information on the type of violence they suffered and any other requirement they needed to access the justice system.  There was indeed a need to work on the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic aspects, and this would be a challenge in the coming years.  The Government was working on access to justice for various groups of women including for women victims of violence.

Referring to the questions on the confessional state and references to machismo, the delegation stated that those were global problems; international human rights were a driver for change and the recommendations from the Committee would contribute to the improvement in this regard.  Machismo and chauvinism was a structural global problem, and the neo-machismo required new activities.  The activities adopted in the past were not necessarily adequate to address the new problems.  Alliances were important.  The National Institute of Women had no way of tackling these problems on its own – the solution required the involvement of everyone.  This was why the Institute had knocked on the doors of the football world because women suffered violence there.  Another was the business world.  The strategy was also to knock on the doors at the highest political levels.

The Institute had also looked at how men viewed their masculinity, and it hired and trained men to work in the field of women’s rights, with the aim to try to get men more involved.  A draft bill entitled “Equal Architecture” was in the pipeline, which would look at the National Institute of Women as the tip of the iceberg of a large system involving men’s organizations looking at violence, as well as a myriad of other institutions and organisations.  It was also necessary to look at country alliances.

Questions by Experts

Turning to the matters of the national gender machinery, an Expert commended Costa Rica for setting up a number of institutions and mechanisms for the advancement for women’s’ rights, including the National Plan for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, the National Plan for Gender Equality, the Inter Agency Coordination Institute, Temporary Care and Shelter Centres, Unified Centres for Gender Violence, the National Institute for Women.  But, those might be there just for the name - they lacked capacity, budget and the structure to coordinate movement and improve quality. 

There were huge coordination and implementation challenges: what inter-institutional coordination mechanisms and capacity building programmes were in place to ensure coordination between these different institutions?  What were the plans to strengthen institutional services for women including the support provided by local governments? What were greater media intervention strategies?  

What efforts had been made to collect disaggregated data? 

Costa Rica was surrounded by conflict and influx of refugees - what was being done to aid peace and conflict resolution in the region? 

Another Expert, referring to the goal to achieve the 50-50 parity, informed that time-limited quotas were necessary to achieve equal footing between men and women. Substantive equality meant equal access to health, education, and employment services, including for indigenous women, women with African background, the elderly, women with disabilities, and women from rural and remote areas. 

She asked the delegation to provide information on temporary special measures, measures intended to support female headed households living in poverty in rural areas, as well as special measures aimed at disadvantaged groups in the areas of health, education, and employment.

Answers by the Delegation

There were two overarching gender equality policies, said the delegation, one the Policy for Gender Equality, and the other the National Policy on Gender-Based Violence. 

The mechanism to implement the Gender Equality Policy was a virtual follow-up instrument which compiled goals and indicators showing to what extent these had been achieved.  The mechanism was in its last year, after ten years of existence, and its implementation was oversaw by a technical secretariat within the National Institute for Women.  The Institute also acted as the secretariat of the National Plan against Gender Based Violence, which was being implemented with the police and health services and had a similar follow-up mechanism.  

Regarding access to justice for vulnerable categories, there was a specific policy for attending to the needs of women and disaggregated data was being collected by the follow-up committee within the judiciary.  Interpretation was provided in four languages for indigenous women, the judiciary addressed the migrant women issues since 2008 and the needs of women of African descent since 2012.  The Government was also ensuring the needs of women deprived of justice.

Gender parity was a reality and existed on the political level, in decision-making bodies of political parties, in the private sector, and in the trade unions.  There was also parity on the Executive Boards of public bodies, with the rule that when a post was freed, the obligation was to hire a woman, until 50-50 parity had been achieved.  A Bill on parity in the central Government had also been adopted.  Women accounted for 40 per cent of the Government staff.

The National Institute of Women had representation within the Government, and had economic and budgetary independence. 

Questions by Experts

In the next round of questions, the delegation was asked to comment on the information that the sentences to perpetrators of gender-based and domestic violence had been reduced, to provide the number of female victims of homicide, and to explain how the two laws on the matter coincided.  With regards to complaints of violence, allegedly there were 45,000 annual complaints but only 300 reached the courts.  How could women access free legal representation and what happened when there was no institutional representation in remote areas?

The definition of trafficking in persons in the law was not in line with the international legal definition, and this was a problem.  What would be done to address this issue, and how much reflection was going into reforming the victim identification procedure?  The Committee welcomed the work the State party was doing on child sex tourism, but wished to have more information on training for police, justice and other workers, on what was being done to strengthened victim protection and provide the support to victims of sex trafficking to exit prostitution.

The Expert noted that there was a problem of the registration of children, especially migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking children, who then became a prey to human traffickers.  How was the Government qualifying this problem and what was it intending to do about it?  What was being done to facilitate and speed up the migrant, refugee and asylum seekers registration procedures?

Response by the Delegation

In response to questions raised by the Experts, the delegation said that approximately 20,000 individuals in the judiciary had been trained on violence against women and on trafficking in persons; there was an additional training model for teachers and approximately 88 schools from the five provinces were included in the training programme.

Complaints against domestic violence could be filed under civil or under criminal procedure.  There were shortcomings in this respect and a focal group working with victims of domestic violence was working on studying why complaints were withdrawn. The results were that very often, women did not want the men to be imprisoned, but rather to be removed from the home and to pay the alimony.  This was a cultural problem and went above and beyond criminal law.

There were 45,000 complaints of violence against women under the civil procedure, which were dealt with within the family; up to 98 per cent of the cases were processed in favour of the victims.  The number of complaints of violence against women under the criminal law were much fewer, approximately 20,000 per year.  Homicide was indeed a big problem.

Trafficking in persons was being tackled through a comprehensive strategy, addressing traffickers.  The emotional repercussions of trafficking on victims were so high that they often led to suicide.  Funds had been allocated recently to step up the fight against the scourge of trafficking in human beings.  Shelters had been created, and comprehensive care was being provided for victims.

On the question of birth registration of migrant, refugee and asylum seeking children, the delegation explained that the registration system was very efficient as it was the hospitals that registered the births.  A special programme had been launched for a population that was in the border area and which had not been registered as yet, so five groups of registrars had been sent, from Costa Rica and Panama, with the help of the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Refugee Agency, to register all children and adults who had not been registered. 

It took about two years to have refugee status approved and resolve these cases.  Measures had been put in place to speed up the process.

The issue of domestic violence against the elderly usually involved property, and was sometimes referred to as economic or patrimonial violence.

Following up to responses by the delegation, Experts asked whether it was possible for the National Institute on Women to grant assistance to women on time and to inform about the state-funded legal aid.  Was the training on domestic violence mandatory for all judges?

Responding, a delegate said that victims were able to benefit from the victim protection programme, however the programme had not worked as well as conceived as the victims wished to have their freedom and not be accompanied by the police.

Training on domestic violence was mandatory for all judges and all new employees had to undergo a training on gender issues which included not only family and criminal law but also agricultural matters and all areas of work, which was important as it provided visibility for women’s issues.  The previous year, over 11,000 persons had been trained at the National Women’s Institute. 

Questions by Experts

In questions concerning the political representation and participation of women, Experts noted that the number of women in Parliament had first increased and then decreased, and asked the Government shifted its responsibility on women’s representation to the legislative bodies?  Why was there still a lack of horizontal parity for people elected?

What was the legal definition of “political harassment” in the draft law?  How did women participate in decision making in the boards of companies, what was the status of women’s non-governmental organizations and female human rights defenders in Costa Rica?

One Expert was concerned about the lack of precise and disaggregated data on enrollment rates and drop-out rates for girls in school and asked whether Costa Rica was considering adopting measures to integrate bilingualism into schools, particularly in remote areas.  What policies were being put in place to combat the dropout of girls, particularly for reasons of pregnancy?

Another Expert deplored the still precarious situation of women in the labor market: the gender wage gap was about thirty percent, women were more likely to participate in lower-value jobs or work in the informal economy, and the female unemployment rate of about 11 per cent was much higher than that of men.  Noting that paternity leave was at the discretion of the employer, she asked if a more ambitious law was being considered to this effect and what measures had been undertaken to tackle this labor inequality.

Were there plans to stamp out child labour?

Experts raised concerns about the tensions reported in indigenous territories due to private actors encroaching on these lands without prior consultation with the populations, and asked whether Costa Rica took into account the Committee’s previous recommendations, whether it would ratify the International Labour Organisation Conventions to this effect, and if the information on labour rights had been disseminated throughout the country?  Could the delegation indicate if there was any link between this issue and free trade treaties?

What was being done to bring about dialogue - without confrontation - on all issues regarding maternity and child care, especially in the cultural and traditional context, and to reduce early pregnancy?  Were measures envisaged to enable women to carry out a voluntary interruption of pregnancy and to increase access to and the availability of contraceptives?

The delegation was asked about the programmes for women in prostitution and transgender women, and the plans and programmes to address sexual violence especially among the indigenous and Afro-descent community.

Another issue of concern was the failure to pay welfare benefits to those entitled to it the abuse reported by relatives of such persons. 

What measures were being taken to increase the influence of women in rural decision-making and to facilitate girls' access to education and work in rural areas?

Response by the Delegation

Referring to questions raised on the political representation of women, the delegation responded that within the diplomatic corps of Costa Rica, 83 positions were filled by men, 90 by women and there were 19 vacant posts out of a total of 192 posts; out of 50 heads of missions, 33 were men and 17 were women.  The Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations in Geneva was composed entirely of women. 

Costa Rica had not yet trained diplomats in the area of ​​peace and security, which was partly due to the fact that the country did not have a national army. However, two police officers had participated in the United Nations Mission to Colombia as part of the peace program.

There was nothing to prevent two spouses from working in the same diplomatic service, but there could be no hierarchical relationship between the two.

Political parties had access to training on gender-based discrimination, said a delegate and added that a recent resolution of the Supreme Electoral Court decided to ensure parity in the Assembly.

The concept of "political harassment" in the draft law was intended to block any kind of discrimination against women wishing to engage in politics and determined the sanctions for offenders including being banned from their posts.

According to the latest study conducted in 2011, the school drop-out rate was somewhat higher among males than females at all levels, and there were programmes to counter the phenomenon at all levels of education.  For example, the "I subscribe" programme included a media campaign to combat early school leaving, while in 2016, a programme to encourage girls to take an interest in technology and science had been successfully conducted.

In the round of follow-up questions, Experts asked how migrant women were protected and what measures could be taken to ensure the continued education of pregnant girls in schools.

Responding, the delegation explained the activities in place to support pregnant girls including to continue the education, for example provision of monetary benefits to the most disadvantaged communities to help pregnant girls continue their education.  Additionally, there was a policy to fight against child labour, and a programme to prevent early pregnancy, as a result of which a decrease in the number of cases had been observed in different regions. 

There was a debate within the administration concerning the ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

The programme on comprehensive health was a landmark programme in Costa Rica; the coverage it provided had been broadened and enhanced by the Ministry of Education  with a broad consultation with women.

Questions by Experts

In the next series of questions, Experts addressed the issues related to rural women and inquired about their participation in decision-making, measures envisioned to address their situation in terms of education and employment, and their access to market facility and social security programmes.

Response by the Delegation

The delegation explained that rural women were able to participate in the territorial planning processes throughout the country, and were represented in the managing committees in all thirty eight territories.  Over the last few months, the number of women holding the positions of Council Vice-Chair had risen to twenty-two. 

On land and inheritance, women had the right to have their house registered in their name since 1995.   A pilot project was being developed in the region bordering Panama, for the economic empowerment of rural women, with a focus on access to land and access to credit.

Committee Experts took the floor to ask follow-up questions, requesting the delegation to comment on the dispossession of indigenous land and explain how the State intend to prevent it from happening.

The delegation noted that this was a controversial issue in the country; the problem was that there were already non-indigenous people in those territories, and thus a process of expropriation had to be initiated, and the first step was to demarcate those territories in order to have them registered in the land registries.

Questions by Experts

Committee Experts, in the final round of questions, referred to controversies over child custody and asked for the explanations on the dubious  theory of “parental alienation issue”, which men’s organizations and fathers’ rights groups seemed to be promoting.  Allegedly a film on this issue had been screened in the Courts. 

Experts asked whether there were provisions in the legislation which instructed judges to take into consideration, when deciding in child custody cases, domestic violence directed at the mother.  Were there specific parameters that social workers had to take into consideration when contemplating shared physical custody?

With regards to divorce and marital property regimes, were there mechanisms to consider economic disparities between the man and the woman, including career and opportunity costs on the part of the woman, who stayed at home rearing the children and not working?  Was there a way to balance this question?

Response by the Delegation

The delegation said that there were draft projects on parental alienation and on the reductions of standards of alimony – there was activism to draw the attention of legislative bodies to those issues which were interlinked and to ensure that the draft laws were not accepted.  The term parental alienation was on the agenda of the courts, but this did not mean it had been accepted by the courts and across the judicial system, regardless of the tendency to use the arguments.  The Government was working with the judges to shine the light on the issue and to shed some light with the help of psychosocial reports. 

Women could have access to the public defender to address the alimony issues, but there were great many cases of late alimony payments.  About 93 per cent of the alimony payments were below the level of basic sustenance of US$ 200 per month.

Concluding Remarks

ALEJANDRA MORA MORA, Minister of the Status of Women, Executive President of the National Institute of Women of Costa Rica, thanked the Committee for the dialogue and noted that if the reality of women changed, it would change everything: women were the key to development models and the vision of Costa Rica.  The delegation had a lot of enthusiasm, and agreed there was a lot of work to do.  Some had tried to distort the message, but Ms. Mora Mora reassured the Committee of the commitment of Costa Rica to achieving the best conditions for women.

DALIA LEINARTE, Committee Chairperson, commended Costa Rica for all its efforts and encouraged it to consider the Committee’s recommendations, for the purpose of a more comprehensive implementation of the provisions of the Convention.

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