The U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report 2019 gives information on which countries are making improvements in tackling human trafficking, Costa Rica still placed in Tier 2, the same position it held last year.

“The Government of Costa Rica does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period; therefore, Costa Rica remained on Tier 2. These efforts included investigating and convicting more traffickers, taking law enforcement action against complicit government officials, amending the law to establish force, fraud, and coercion as essential elements and remove movement as a required element of the offense, and providing more funding for services to victims. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. Disbursement of government-funded resources to address trafficking fell short of allocations and remained insufficient overall. Civil society organizations reported authorities did not always implement referral mechanisms in an effective or timely manner or in coordination with them”, explains the report.

The report also goes on to give a series of recommendations, including: “Intensify efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, and convict and punish traffickers; reduce the significant backlog of trafficking cases in the judicial system; increase victim identification and referral, particularly in coordination and collaboration with civil society; conduct thorough and transparent criminal investigations of alleged government complicity in trafficking offenses and prosecute, convict, and punish complicit officials; increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict child sex tourists and others who purchase commercial sex acts from child trafficking victims; increase anti-trafficking training for police, prosecutors, and judges”, among others.

Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Costa Rica, and traffickers exploit victims from Costa Rica abroad. Child sex tourism is also identified as a serious problem in Costa Rica, with child sex tourists arriving mostly from the United States and Europe.
The Attorney General’s Office in Costa Rica reported investigating 74 cases total—45 cases of sex trafficking (article 172), 18 cases of aggravated pimping (article 170), and 11 cases of forced labor or services (article 189)—compared to 62 cases in 2017.