The Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, Arnoldo André Tinoco, called for international support to care for the thousands of refugees and migrants received by his country and also drew attention to the human rights crisis that Nicaragua is experiencing.
“It is with a true sense of urgency that we require the support of the international community to address this challenge (of receiving migrants and refugees) that has been aggravated not only by conflict and poverty, but also by the impact of climate change. ”, expressed the foreign minister in his speech before the General Assembly of the United Nations.
André affirmed that Costa Rica “has never closed the door” to migrants, but that currently the country’s fiscal economic situation “limits” its capacity for action and “jeopardizes the adequate coverage that in the past we have assured to these hundreds of thousands of people who have sought refuge.”
The minister said that in 2021 Costa Rica, a country of 5.1 million inhabitants, was the fourth country in the world that received more refugee applications according to its population and that it was the first in terms of Nicaraguan applications.
Nearly 120,000 Nicaraguans have requested refuge in Costa Rica since 2018 due to the sociopolitical crisis stemming from the protests against the government of Daniel Ortega.
Release of political prisoners
The Costa Rican foreign minister also denounced to the UN a series of human rights violations that are occurring in Nicaragua in the context of the crisis.
“The decline of democracy is evident in Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific and in my own region where the situation that Nicaragua is experiencing demands the urgent attention of the international community for the release of hundreds of political prisoners, the restitution of freedom of expression and press, the free exercise of the right of association of civil society and the return to democracy”, said the foreign minister.
Since the outbreak of the crisis in Nicaragua, Costa Rica does not appoint an ambassador in Managua.
In his speech before the General Assembly, the Costa Rican foreign minister also denounced that “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” has caused “a humanitarian, financial and fuel crisis” and also a “polarization in geopolitical and economic blocs.”
André made a call to place human rights as a priority to face global crises and announced the candidacy of Costa Rica to the Human Rights Council for the period 2023-2025.
The minister also criticized the fact that in 2021 global investment in weapons reached record highs while a third of the world’s population has not received a single dose of the covid-19 vaccine.
In environmental matters, André reaffirmed Costa Rica’s commitment to the fight against climate change and highlighted that his country leads, together with France and the United Kingdom, the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which seeks to conserve 30% of land and ocean.
The foreign minister represented Costa Rica in the UN General Assembly, as President Rodrigo Chaves canceled his assistance to address the damage caused by the rains in the country in recent days.
