Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Costa Rica

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) (Ratification: 1960)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (Ratification: 2020)

The Committee refers to its observations in which it notes the measures taken by the Government to combat forced labour, particularly within the framework of the National Policy to Combat Trafficking in Persons, and it requests the Government to provide additional information on the following points:

Article 2 of the Protocol. Prevention. Clauses (a) and (b). Awareness-raising, education and information. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the awareness-raising campaigns and other training activities carried out by the National Coalition to Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (CONATT) and by the Office of the Deputy Prosecutor against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (FACTRA) to strengthen the institutional capacities of the officials of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MTSS), the police and certain legal advisers. In this regard, the Government refers to a campaign entitled “in San Carlos we do not accept trafficking” intended to inform, prevent and denounce trafficking in persons, which is also focused on the Canton of San Carlos, where at least ten cases of trafficking have been recorded in recent years.

The Committee also notes that, in its concluding observations of 2023, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed concern at the limited access to information on the illicit practices of trafficking and migrant smuggling networks for migrant women and girls in transit or in an irregular situation, refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls, particularly Haitians and Africans (CEDAW/C/CRI/CO/8).

The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the awareness-raising and educational activities carried out with respect to trafficking in persons for sexual and labour exploitation, and on other forms of labour exploitation involving forced labour, especially in vulnerable population groups and high-risk sectors. It also requests the Government to provide information on the data compiled through the Police Information Platform (section 31 of the Act to combat trafficking in persons and creating the National Coalition to Combat the Smuggling of Migrants, Act No. 9095 of 2012) and on the manner in which this data is used to determine the sectors and vulnerable groups in which information and awareness-raising activities should be carried out.

Clause (e). Supporting due diligence by enterprises.The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures adopted to support due diligence by enterprises in the public and private sectors, with an indication of whether measures have been taken in sectors where there are indicators of forced labour practices.

Article 4(2) of the Protocol. Absence of prosecution or penalties for illicit activities that victims have been compelled to commit. The Committee notes that, although section 70 of the Act to combat trafficking in persons and creating the National Coalition to Combat the Smuggling of Migrants (Act No. 9095 of 2012) provides that victims of the crime of trafficking in persons shall not be penalized, this provision would not appear to be applicable to victims of other situations that could also constitute forms of forced labour (servitude, under section 189 of the Penal Code, and forced labour, under section 189bis of the Penal Code). The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate the system which is in place to give the guarantee of not being penalized is ensured for such victims.

Article 6. Consultation with employers’ and workers’ organizations.The Committee notes that workers’ and employers’ organizations are not members of the CONATT.It requests the Government to indicate whether consultations are held with employers’ and workers’ organizations on the application and evaluation of the National Policy to Combat Trafficking and if so, the method of consultation, as well as on the development and implementation of other policies to combat forced labour.