Country Report: Costa Rica July 2026
- Genocide Watch
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
By Juliana Girotto
Costa Rica is historically regarded as one of Latin America's strongest countries in terms of defending human rights and political stability. Over the past few years, however, several trends have drawn concern from United Nations (UN) agencies and regional human rights groups, such as strain on migrants and refugees, a rollback of protections for the LGBTQ+ community, a sharp rise in gender-based violence against women, an organized-crime crisis, and a decline in freedom of press under former President Rodrigo Chaves.
A significant human rights crisis Costa Rica is facing today is its large refugee population, with over 220,000 pending asylum claims as of 2025 which makes up around 4% of its total population. In May 2025, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that funding for Costa Rica's asylum claims system was near collapse due to aid cuts from the United States (U.S.) to the UN, causing a 41% budget decrease. Because of these budget cuts, the capacity of Costa Rica to register new arrivals has decreased by 77%. This significant drop in registration capacity is dire, as without documentation refugees cannot legally work, attend school, or gain access to healthcare services.
Another area of concern in Costa Rica lies with protections for the LGBTQ+ community. In 2025, former President Chaves removed the government LGBTI Commissioner role which was created to oversee programs in the interests of LGBTQ+ citizens. This administration at the same time repealed an anti-bullying protocol to protect LGBTQ+ youth in schools and an executive decree to eliminate discrimination against LGBTQ+ people within federal institutions. These actions directly reflect efforts by the Costa Rican government to limit protections against discrimination for the LGBTQ+ community.
In recent years there has also been an increase in gender-based violence against women in Costa Rica. In 2025, Costa Rica recorded 33 femicides, one of its highest recorded years since 2015. Local civil society organizations working with women have cited this violence as stemming from deep-rooted issues of structural inequalities, patriarchal norms, and inadequate state responses. These statistics display gender-based inequalities in Costa Rica as structural and harmful.
Additionally, Costa Rica has recently faced an increase in criminal activity, accompanied by insufficient prisons. In 2025, the national homicide rate in Costa Rica rose to 17 per 100,000. This has largely been caused by drug-trafficking networks, with around 2/3 of the 833 deaths by homicide in 2025 attributed to gang feuds. The government's response to increasing homicides has been to build a maximum-security prison. Human rights monitors have flagged overcrowding and harsh rules as concerns for detainees. This shift in Costa Rica aligns with a broader trend across Latin America, where leaders are becoming inspired by the harsh security legislation enacted by Bukele in El Salvador to crackdown on crime.
Although Costa Rica generally allows political freedom, the most recent presidential administrations have put pressure on these rights. Between 2021 and 2026, Costa Rica has fallen from 5th to 38th on the RSF’s World Press Freedom Index. This decline has largely been attributed to President Chaves’s sustained public attacks on journalists and the withholding of state advertising from critical outlets. In March 2025, President Chaves also led a public demonstration demanding the Attorney General’s resignation, which was flagged as pressure on judicial independence.
Due to the Costa Rican government's crackdowns on LGBTQ+ rights, freedom of press, and crime, as well as its inaction on refugee rights and gender-based violence, Genocide Watch considers Costa Rica to be at Stage 3: Discrimination. Genocide Watch recommends:
The Costa Rican government should guarantee access to asylum processing and non-refoulment for all migrants.
The Costa Rican government should strengthen enforcement of protective orders in cases of discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ people or girls and women.
International bodies such as the UN and independent organizations should continue to monitor conditions within Costa Rican high-security prisons, ensuring humane living conditions and access to legal resources.
The Costa Rican government should stop placing pressure on critical media outlets and judicial institutions ensure the protection of a free and independent press.
