Human rights in Costa Rica

Republic of Costa Rica
República de Costa Rica (Spanish)
Capital
and largest city
San José
Official languagesSpanish
GovernmentUnitary presidential constitutional republic
• President
Carlos Alvarado
Epsy Campbell Barr
Marvin Rodríguez
LegislatureLegislative Assembly
Area
• Total
51,100 km2 (19,700 sq mi)
ISO 3166 codeCR

Costa Rica is often considered one of the best countries in Latin America at upholding Human Rights.[1] It has been involved in the creation of international rights standards.[2] Costa Rica is signatory to, and has ratified, many international treaties regarding rights, including the 1948 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights (UNDHR).[2][3] Costa Rica scored above the world mean for human rights, achieving top global rankings.[4] Its poverty levels sit at 18.6%, one of the lowest in the Latin American regions.[4] Human rights in Costa Rica predominantly stem from the UNDHR, the Costa Rican Constitution and the Inter-American Human Rights System.

Women's, children's and refugee's rights are all upheld in Costa Rica.[5][6][7] LGBT rights have improved substantially over recent years, for instance with the legalization of same-sex-marriage in 2020.[8][9]

  1. ^ Morgan, Lynn M. (2019). "'Human Life Is Inviolable': Costa Rica's Human Rights Crucible". Medical Anthropology. 38 (6): 493–507. doi:10.1080/01459740.2018.1510394. PMID 30299172. S2CID 52941535.
  2. ^ a b "Ratifications for Costa Rica". International Labour Organization. n.d. Retrieved 2019-05-18.
  3. ^ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations. 2017. ISBN 978-92-1-101364-1. OCLC 1088921576.
  4. ^ a b Mainwaring, Scott; Scully, Timothy R.; Vargas Cullell, Jorge (2010). "Measuring Success in Democratic Governance". In Mainwaring, Scott; Scully, Timothy R. (eds.). Democratic Governance in Latin America. Stanford University Press. pp. 11–51. ISBN 978-0-8047-6084-3. OCLC 828736904. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  5. ^ "Costa Rica Seeks to Achieve the Guarantee of All Child Rights by 2021: President of Costa Rica Approves First Child Public Policy" (Press release). San Jose, Costa Rica: UNICEF. 9 September 2009. Archived from the original on 2012-05-10.
  6. ^ Fernández, Gastón; Narváez, León (1987). "Refugees and Human Rights in Costa Rica: The Mariel Cubans". International Migration Review. 21 (2): 406–415. doi:10.1177/019791838702100209. JSTOR 2546323. S2CID 147136620.
  7. ^ Costa Rica: Society and Culture. World Trade Press. 2010. ISBN 978-1-60780-332-4.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dittrich2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).