The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will extend the technical and financial cooperation it gives to the General Directorate of Migration in Costa Rica with the objective of strengthening the attention to the public in response to the increase in the number of asylum requests.

Raquel Vargas, Director of Migration, explained that this donation is the result of efforts made by the Costa Rican Government, “This cooperation will allow us to make improvements in the process of reception and analysis of asylum requests and recognize this condition to people that fulfill the requirements established in the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees subscribed by Costa Rica. This is the first phase which is equivalent to $590,000.00 USD that will be used to better our services”.

In this first phase Migration will rent a building that complies with all necessary requirements to provide prompt attention to the public and with the capacity to handle the current flow of people. The funds will also be used for the hiring of 20 lawyers and 10 office clerks.

The Minister of Government, Victor Barrantes, explained that these funds will help prevent that the migratory pressure affects the quality of the services offered by Migration to nationals and foreigners.

The document has a term of two years and will be automatically renewed for the same term unless one of the parts chooses to terminate the agreement in which case they will have to inform of their decision three months in advance.

“During the last 40 years, the Government of Costa Rica and UNHCR have managed to look after the needs of those applying for refugee and those who are stateless in the country through coordinated work and international cooperation. This letter of agreement reconfirms the commitment and support to the Costa Rican government in effective response to the situation of refugees in the country and those applying for asylum”, commented Marcela Rodríguez-Farelly, officer of UNHCR. Source: National Directorate of Migration Costa Rica