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

Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) - Costa Rica (Ratification: 1993)

Articles 2 and 33 of the Convention. Coordinated and systematic action. Public policy on indigenous peoples. The Committee notes that a public policy on indigenous peoples 2026–36 is currently being developed and observes that, according to the latest annual report of the Office of the Ombudsman (2024–25), consultations on the development of this policy have been held with indigenous peoples in 5 of the 24 indigenous territories. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in the development and approval of the public policy on indigenous peoples 2026–36 and on the consultations held with indigenous peoples in the 24 indigenous territories, including information on the agreements reached and the difficulties encountered.

Article 6 and 7. Development. The Committee recalls that the Indigenous Peoples’ Autonomous Development Bill (legislative file No. 14352), to which it referred in its previous comments, was intended to address, inter alia, the issue of governance, and notes the Government’s indication that the bill has been shelved. The Committee also notes that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, in his 2022 report, observes that the comprehensive development associations – which were established by Executive Decree No. 8487 of 10 May 1978 as a form of governance within the 24 indigenous territories – are not suited to guaranteeing representation for indigenous peoples and, rather, have hampered the legal recognition of the indigenous peoples’ own authorities. The Rapporteur points to, inter alia, accounts of instances of lands being returned to non-indigenous persons by the comprehensive development associations and of conflicts, sometimes violent, with the indigenous peoples’ own authorities (A/HRC/51/28/Add.1). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures takento ensure that indigenous peoples are able to decide their own priorities for development and participate in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of plans and programmes for national and regional development which may affect them directly.

Article 15. Natural resources. Participation in benefits. In reply to its previous comments, the Government indicates that, before an environmental impact assessment is initiated in the National Technical Secretariat for Environment, any project located in an indigenous territory must comply with the general mechanism for consultation with indigenous peoples. The Committee also notes that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, in his 2022 report, referred to reports that indigenous peoples had not been duly consulted about the delineation of protected areas and their management (A/HRC/51/28/Add.1). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the projects submitted for consultation with indigenous peoples within the purview of the National Technical Secretariat for Environment; the consultations held on the creation of protected areas; and the outcomes of those consultations. The Committee also reiterates its request for information on how it is ensured that the indigenous communities concerned participate in the benefits of the projects, providing specific examples.

Article 20. Conditions of work. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the National Labour Inspection Directorate in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has strengthened its inspection capacities to provide better inspection services for Ngäbe and Buglé indigenous persons. For example, 11 labour inspectors from the Brunca region strengthened their communication skills in Ngäbare in order to inform the indigenous population of labour regulations and ensure compliance and broadened their knowledge of indigenous culture in order to better understand their cosmovision and achieve more fluid communication, especially in coffee and banana growing areas. The Government also reports that the Directorate has continued to monitor the conditions in which indigenous workers work, particularly in the areas of Tarrazú, the Brunca region, Corredores, the city of Neily and San Vito de Coto Brus, the Caribbean region, Pococí, Siquirres and Talamanca.

The Committee also notes that, in his 2023 report, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery referred to measures to prevent child labour, such as the Houses of Joy (Casas de la Alegría), which provide day care and meals to Ngäbe Buglé children whose parents, mainly migrant workers from Panama, work on coffee farms in the Zona de los Santos and other locations. The Rapporteur also emphasized that indigenous workers who do not speak Spanish face significant difficulties in understanding and claiming their rights, and some workers in the coffee sector reportedly do not receive a contract and are paid less than what they are entitled to (A/HRC/54/30/Add.1). The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken to ensure the effective protection with regard to recruitment and conditions of employment of indigenous workers, and to provide information on the inspections carried out and the measures taken to inform workers of their rights, including on farms where indigenous migrant workers are employed.

Articles 21–23. Vocational training, handicrafts and rural industries. The Government indicates that between 2020 and April 2025, 7,531 indigenous persons participated in vocational training and education provided by the National Learning Institute, which conducted several workshops to identify training needs. The Government also refers to the Women Seed Programme, which was created at the request of the Federation of Indigenous Women of Talamanca and is aimed, inter alia, at designing an organic farming programme to provide participants with skills, abilities and tools to implement agroecological practices in their territories. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the activities of the National Learning Institute aimed at the peoples covered by the Convention, and the results achieved, including information on how the peoples concerned participate in the design of any special programme intended for them.

Articles 24 and 25. Social security and health. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the activities carried out by the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) to extend health coverage to the indigenous population. The Government refers to the “Bridges of Health” programme, launched in March 2025, with the aim of eliminating barriers to access to healthcare and providing integrated and culturally appropriate care to indigenous communities. The Committee also notes that: (1) the Joint Social Assistance Institute held roundtable discussions to learn about the culture, cosmovision and needs of the indigenous population; (2) regulations were developed for the recruitment of indigenous persons for the CCSS in indigenous territories; and (3) inter-programme-based work on indigenous women’s health was developed by the Standardized Healthcare for Women and the Standardized Healthcare for Indigenous Peoples Programmes.

The Committee also notes that the Office of the Ombudsman, in its latest annual report, identified deficiencies in care during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum; a lack of infrastructure close to indigenous communities, a lack of cultural understanding from healthcare personnel and a lack of inter-institutional coordination to ensure safe discharges.

The Committee further notes that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health, in her 2024 report, referred, inter alia, to: (1) the existence of mobile teams from the basic comprehensive healthcare teams that carried out between 1 and 4 visits a month to the 24 indigenous territories; (2) obstetric violence in connection with childbirth services against indigenous women, who were obliged to follow protocols that were incompatible with their cultural backgrounds; (3) difficult access to healthcare services because they were geographically distant from population centres and health services did not adequately take into account the realities, cosmovision and customs of indigenous peoples; and (4) the lack of specific areas in hospitals where traditional healers could interact with sick persons from their communities (A/HRC/56/52/Add.2).

The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken to extend social security coverage to indigenous peoples and to address, in an integrated manner and in consultation with those peoples, the existing obstacles, including with regard to sexual and reproductive health services, and to ensure that health services take into account the traditional preventive care, healing practices and medicines of the peoples concerned.

Article 28. Indigenous languages. With reference to its previous comments, the Government indicates that 16 indigenous territories continue to use their mother tongues and that the native languages in the national territory are: Cabécar, Bribrí, Ngäbe and Buglé, Maleku, Brunca, Teribe and Miskito. The Government also reports that the Department of Intercultural Education in the Ministry of Public Education implemented reforms to the curricula, with a communicative approach in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages for Brunca and Ngäbe and Buglé. It also created the specialty and subspecialty of indigenous language and indigenous culture in the Civil Service Chapter II Job Manual. While taking note of this information, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to protect other indigenous languages and to promote bilingual education in general.

Article 32. Contacts and cooperation across borders. In reply to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that there is no record of a movement of indigenous peoples from Nicaragua. The Government also reports that, as a result of the Agreement on the mechanism for migratory flows for employment and occupation between the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the Republic of Costa Rica and the Ministry of Labour and Labour Development of the Republic of Panama, the publication “Labour rights working in Costa Rica” was produced for Ngäbe and Buglé indigenous migrant workers from Panama.

The Committee notes with interest Act No. 9710 of 9 August 2019 on the protection of the right to Costa Rican citizenship of indigenous cross-border persons and the guarantee of integration of indigenous cross-border persons, which aims to create and regulate special procedures to provide cross-border indigenous persons with full access to their right to Costa Rican citizenship. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to implement Act No. 9710, including information on the number of applications for naturalization and permanent residency received and accepted, as well as on the integration measures adopted under Chapter III of the Act.