The General Directorate of Migration and Aliens of Costa Rica reiterated that people seeking refuge in that country will not be able to leave its territory according to Resolution No. DJUR-0206-12-2022-JM and Decree No. 43810 on the Reform of the Regulations for Persons Refugees, a decision of the government of President Rodrigo Chaves.
Said action by the Costa Rican Executive was criticized by local Nicaraguan human rights organizations. They noted that a large number of refugee claimants and victims travel to regional and international forums to participate in events where they denounce the serious situation in Nicaragua under the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
«Refugees will not require authorization to leave the country, as long as it is not to their country of origin. Refugee applicants should not leave the country, “clarified the General Directorate of Migration and Aliens of Costa Rica on its Facebook account.
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Jhoswell Martínez, president of the Costa Rica-based Intercultural Association for Human Rights (ASIDEHU), told Article 66 They have already appealed against one of the articles of the aforementioned resolution and in the coming days they will present a new appeal against the other articles, including the one that restricts refugee applicants from leaving the country.
In November 2022, the president of Costa Rica announced that his country was “taking measures” to prevent economic migrants from continuing to use the political refugee regime to come to work and settle in the Central American nation.
Following these statements, Costa Rica issued decrees imposing regulations on migrants seeking refuge in the country, first eliminating requests through telephone calls and restricting refugee applicants from leaving, under penalty of losing said condition.
They rejected new immigration policy
A week ago, 17 human rights organizations warned about the risk of setbacks in terms of regional migration policies in view of Costa Rica’s decision to modify the Refugee Regulations on the granting of work permits and the temporary special category for Nicaraguan nationals. Cuba and Venezuela.
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“These measures cause uncertainty in the population seeking refuge due to the lack of information about the new process, they also make their living conditions even more precarious by making it difficult for them to access a job,” they pointed out.
“Disorder and mistreatment”
Another group of civil organizations denounce “serious problems” of organization in the Refugee Unit of the Directorate of Migration of Costa Rica to attend to new refugee applicants. After the elimination of online dating, the agglomeration of migrants on said site has been notorious. Many people spend the night on the site for several days to obtain one of the 50 slots that are distributed daily.
Sources on condition of anonymity revealed to Article 66 that since the government of President Rodrigo Chaves annulled the request by telephone, the situation has become hostile; In addition, the treatment by the security guards and some of the immigration personnel has been degrading.
Due to the few slots that are given per day to migrants seeking refuge in Costa Rica, many have chosen to remain on the outskirts of Migration to ensure that they are attended to first the next day, however they denounce that Migration officials ” they ordered —or forced— to disband and appear until the next day, arguing that it is forbidden to remain in those ranks».
