Agenda Política de Mujeres 2007-2010 Costa Rica Shadow Report

Costa Rica prizes itself of possessing one of the longest standing democratic regimess of Latin America. Never the less, its democratic practices show important deficits in citizenship rights which affect the half of the population of the country constituted by women. Two political parties have been alternating governmental power, but their development model has continued to create and re-create historical female exclusion biases that may shift depending on age, place of residence, ethnic group, occupation, religion and sexual orientation, among others.

In June 2003, the Costa Rican government presented the UN with the first official report regarding CEDAW compliance, and 9 Costa Rican NGOs coordinated by Agenda Política de Mujeres prepared a Shadow Report with the support of several international organizations such as United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); the Women, Justice and Gender Program of the Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD); the International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia-Pacific (IWRAW-Asia Pacific); the Legal Center for Reproductive Rights and Public Policies (CRLP), among others.

In the period between 2004 and 2007, Agenda Política de Mujeres kept requesting from the National Women's Institute (INAMU), official mechanism for the advancement of women, information pertaining to the application of the 2003 recommendations from CEDAW's Committee. We were unable to receive a positive response until the first semester of 2007 when an informative session was scheduled to share the preparation of the next official government report, and once more Agenda Política de Mujeres and 11 other organizations, with the support of UNFPA, undertook the task of preparing an alternative report. The sources used for this report were: testimonies, accounts and interviews made to 10 organizations, linked to the defense of human rights. Publications from renowned organisms such as the Ombudsman's Office, the State of the Nation Program1 , the National Institute of Statistics, the Planning and Economic Policy Ministry, as well as others were also tapped. They were chosen because of their systematic collection of accusations; because they generate official statistics, and/or analysis of the situation of
women in the country.

The main points of interest regarding the socioeconomic and political context of the country for the period of 2003-2007 are:

• Discrimination by results at the national level, despite the existence of laws that protect the rights of women. Official and extra-official influence, and meddling, of the Catholic Church exerted over the government with the resulting limitation of integral women's rights, specially of sexual and reproductive rights.
• Differential gender discrimination suffered by women due to ethnic origin, sexual orientation, functional capacity, age, geographical location, or socio-economic status.
• The negative effects of the Central American Free Trade Agreement with USA and the Dominican Republic (CAFTA) on women's human rights, and discrimination they will suffer as a result, in many areas of life.
• The rights of domestic workers continue to be violated despite recent Labor Law reform. Lack of access to free of prejudice, complete, and timely information; as well as efficient services that utilize the latest technologies for sexual and reproductive health. Absence of an education for sexuality free from religious dogma, patriarchal, moralist or age discriminating biases.
• Lack of instruments to measure gender impact that take into consideration the rights and great diversity of the various areas of women's lives.
• The lack of commitment of the Costa Rican government has shown for application of the recommendations offered by the CEDAW Committee, and the 2003 Shadow Report, which were meant to eliminate discriminatory practices against women.

The present report is limited to the themes of which the women participating in the process have knowledge of, experience, and access to information. This Shadow report does not cover the entire range of discrimination which exists against women in Costa Rica.

On behalf of Agenda Política de Mujeres
Cristina Nogués (cnogues@racsa.co.cr)
Marta Solano (mesolano@ice.co.cr)