COSTA RICA: Tier 2 Watch List
Costa Rica is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Costa Rican women and children are subjected to sex trafficking within the country, with those living in the north and central Pacific coast zones being particularly vulnerable. Authorities have identified adults using children to transport or sell drugs; some of these children may be trafficking victims. There are a significant number of transgender Costa Ricans in the commercial sex industry who are vulnerable to sex trafficking. Women and girls from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and other Latin American countries have been identified in Costa Rica as victims of sex trafficking and domestic servitude. Child sex tourism is a serious problem, with child sex tourists arriving mostly from the United States and Europe. Men and children from other Central American countries and from Asian countries, including China, are subjected to conditions of forced labor in Costa Rica, particularly in the agriculture, construction, fishing, and commercial sectors. Nicaraguan men and women transit Costa Rica en route to Panama, where some are subsequently subjected to forced labor or sex trafficking. Indigenous Panamanians are also reportedly vulnerable to forced labor in agriculture in Costa Rica. Government officials, including a mayor, have been investigated for suspected involvement in sex trafficking.
The Government of Costa Rica does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Officials identified 23 victims, investigated 14 suspected cases, and provided anti-trafficking training to some officials and members of the tourism industry. Despite these measures, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing anti-trafficking efforts compared to the previous reporting period; therefore, Costa Rica is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. Law enforcement efforts declined; the government did not convict any traffickers, child sex tourists, or individuals who purchased commercial sex acts from child trafficking victims. Victim services remained inadequate, and the government failed to dispense any of the 1,725 billion colones ($3.24 million) accrued in a dedicated government fund to support anti-trafficking and anti-smuggling efforts.The government continued to lack the ability to collect or report comprehensive statistics on its anti-trafficking efforts, due largely to its policy of classifying cases of trafficking that did not involve the displacement of victims as separate crimes.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COSTA RICA:
Use resources in the newly established fund to provide comprehensive services for trafficking victims, including child sex trafficking victims, in partnership with civil society organizations; intensify efforts to proactively investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, including labor trafficking and cases not involving movement, and convict and punish traffickers; amend legislation to define human trafficking consistent with international law; improve the efficacy and implementation of Costa Rica’s victim

assistance protocol, particularly in cases occurring outside of the capital, for victims of labor trafficking, and for Costa Rican victims; conduct thorough and transparent criminal investigations and prosecutions of alleged government complicity in trafficking offenses and convict and sentence complicit officials; strengthen dedicated prosecutorial and police units through increased resources and training, including on victim treatment and the distinction between trafficking and smuggling; increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict child sex tourists and others who purchase commercial sex acts from child trafficking victims; improve data collection for law enforcement and victim protection efforts; and finalize an updated national action plan to guide the government’s anti-trafficking efforts.

PROSECUTION
The government’s anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts declined significantly, with few efforts to hold traffickers criminally accountable.The anti-trafficking law enacted in December 2012, Law 9095, came into effect in February 2013 and prescribes penalties of four to 20 years’ imprisonment; these penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with other serious crimes. The definition of trafficking in this law is in some respects more narrow than international law—requiring the displacement of the victim—and in other respects more broad—penalizing non- trafficking crimes such as illegal adoption, sale of organs, moving persons for the purpose of prostitution, and labor exploitation that does amount to forced labor.
Data collection on trafficking remained problematic.The attorney general’s office reported investigating 14 new cases of movement- based trafficking.The government prosecuted three defendants for suspected labor trafficking in a 2010 case involving Asian fishermen on boats in Costa Rican waters.This case ended in acquittal and prosecutors have appealed the verdict.There were no additional trafficking prosecutions and no convictions in 2014, compared with at least seven convictions in 2013. Some officials conflated trafficking with smuggling, and authorities reported that a diversion of government resources to combat smuggling contributed to the decrease in law enforcement efforts. Prosecutors worked with Nicaraguan, Mexican, Dominican, and Panamanian officials on an unspecified number of trafficking investigations in 2013; it is unknown whether any resulted in prosecutions or convictions.The government did not report progress in the pending investigation of a mayor for suspected sex trafficking opened in 2011, and it did not prosecute or convict any government employees complicit in human trafficking or trafficking-related offenses.

PROTECTION
While the government identified more victims, it did not make progress in ensuring that identified victims received adequate protection; specialized services were limited, and most were provided by civil society organizations. The government did not collect comprehensive statistics on victims identified and assisted, and the data provided from different agencies could not be fully reconciled. Prosecutors reported the government identified and assisted 23 trafficking victims in 2014—13 subjected to sex trafficking and 10 to forced labor—an increase from 15 trafficking victims identified and assisted in 2013. The government did not provide comprehensive details on age, gender, or nationality of these victims. At least five were adults, three of whom were from foreign countries, and one of whom was male.The government had an “immediate attention” protocol, which defined steps for