President Laura Chinchilla recently signed legislative decree number 9204, which creates a national protocol against torture, cruelty, unusual punishment, and degrading conditions perpetrated against those who are deprived of freedom in Costa Rica. By executing this decree, President Chinchilla explained that she would like to set an example for the international community to follow, and this is something that Costa Rica has already accomplished in the past.

In 1980, Costa Rica introduced a protocol before the United Nations that would establish international procedures to ensure that those who are deprived of freedom for any reason would not be prevented from receiving visits. Four years later, the United Nations Convention Against Torture was drafted and signed, and Costa Rica continued working on other protocols to afford protection and grant human rights to those who should not become disenfranchised just because they are in prison.

Representatives of Costa Rica before the United Nations never gave up on their original intent, which is based on the premise that making visitations to any type of detention centers is only a natural extension of human rights and a way to keep governments and officials in check. For example, should there be suspicion of a prisoner being subject to extraordinary rendition, a United Nations protocol could force visits from human rights organizations or international observers to ensure that the prisoner has not been removed.

United Nations visitation protocols proposed by Costa Rica went into effect in 2006, and there are now 55 signatory nations. Costa Rica believes that additional protocols against torture are complementary to visitation in the sense that it calls for monitoring and vigilance, which means that visitors and advocates should be allowed to ensure that unusual punishment of prisoners is not carried out.

Under the terms of the new decree in Costa Rica, the people’s ombudsman will be given carte blanche to visit correctional institutions and check on the welfare of inmates without having to submit to red tape or obfuscation. In the near future, Costa Rica plans to promote such measures on the world stage.

Critics of the President Chinchilla administration remarked that the signing of this decree ignores the grave issue of prison overcrowding in Costa Rica, which has worsened in the last few years as a result of a stern national security initiative and crackdown on crime.

Source: Ministry of Justice and Peace press release (PDF)