Information on the requested subject can be found in Section 5 of Country Reports 2001 (available electronically and at Regional Documentation Centres) under the sub-heading "Children" (2002).

In an earlier report on sexual exploitation of minors in Central America, the director of the San Jose-based non-government organization Casa Alianza had reported that his organization worked in Costa Rica in close cooperation with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the local Judicial Investigation Body (Organismo de Investigación Judicial, OIJ), a Costa Rican police body (Casa Alianza 19 Jan. 1999). The report refers to the OIJ and the National Childhood Foundation (Patronato Nacional de la Infancia, PANI) as stakeholders in the efforts against sexual exploitation of minors (ibid.).

In a more recent report by the Director of Childhood and Adolescence of the Office of the Ombudsman of Costa Rica (Director de Niñez y Adolescencia, Defensoría de los Habitantes), the Office states that in 2000 it investigated nightly raids in San Jose aimed at detecting and intervening in cases of commercial sexual exploitation of minors (Costa Rica 14 June 2001). The raids had been reportedly carried out under the direction of the PANI with the assistance of the Ministry of Public Security and other agencies (ibid.). Some raids included the participation of officers of the Ministry of Health, municipal policemen of the Municipality of San Jose and agents of the Directorate of Migration and Foreign Status (Dirección de Migración y Extranjería) (ibid.).

In addition to the above, the Office of the Ombudsman also reports that in 2000, the government Working Committee Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation created by the PANI was restructured, within the framework established by the new Adolescence and Childhood Code of Costa Rica (Código de la Niñez y la Adolescencia) (ibid.). This resulted in the creation of a National Commission Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, which involved representatives of the judiciary and Congress, as well as municipal governments and the Office of the Ombudsman (ibid.).

On services for victims of sexual abuse or exploitation, the report indicates that the above-mentioned raids have created a perception of PANI's work as focusing on repression, which has led to a level of rejection of assistance by the population at risk (ibid.). Approximately 15 of nearly 220 minor women assisted by a FUNDESIDA/PANI program deserted and were never located, and acceptance of protection measures by the remaining minors has decreased (ibid.).

The report adds that victims have been reluctant to provide cooperation crucial to the investigation or prosecution of those involved in their sexual exploitation (clients, parents, pimps or their own networks) and choose to remain silent (ibid.).

At least until 2001, there were two possible protection measures for sexually exploited minors: the El Cambio shelter (albergue), run in cooperation with the Salvation Army, which tends to minors under 15 years of age; and the Tia Tere Home (Casa Hogar Tia Tere) for older minors (ibid.). The first age group is immediately taken to the shelter and receives counselling there, while the second age group tends to require early or gradual engagement beginning on the streets, before they are taken to the shelter; in both cases, timely transport to the shelters has been a problem (ibid.).

An additional problem in PANI's assistance efforts has been that the minors approached include young persons in conflict with the law (young criminals), for whom there is no specialized intervention and rehabilitation centre (ibid.). Some minors also engage in substance abuse, for which there is no dedicated rehabilitation centre (ibid.). Although these latter groups are in most need of assistance, they reject and constantly interfere with the assistance that PANI provides to other minors in need (ibid.).

A report on the successful prosecution of a group that sexually exploited minors (see CRI40823.E of 16 January 2003) quotes the head of Casa Alianza as describing as "the true weakness of the system" (la verdadera debilidad del sistema) the fact that more than a hundred minors were abused by that group, yet none received support or counselling (Noticias Aliadas 26 Dec. 2002). The report adds, without providing further details, that four adolescents who were rescued from an orgy organized by those arrested were taken to their homes by the police and did not receive professional assistance (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Casa Alianza, San Jose. 19 January 1999. Bruce Harris. Presentación para la Conferencia de la UNESCO sobre "Abuso Sexual Infantil, Pornografía Infantil Y Pedofilia en el Internet: Un Desafío Internacional". http://www.casa-alianza.org/ [Accessed 15 Jan. 2003]

Costa Rica. 14 June 2001. Office of the Ombudsman. Mario Víquez Jiménez. Explotación Sexual Comercial de Personas Menores de Edad: Represión o Atención y Prevención. San Jose: Biblioteca Nacional de Salud y Seguridad Social (BINASS). http://www.binass.sa.cr/adolescencia/explotacion.htm [Accessed 15 Jan. 2003]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2001. 2002. "Costa Rica." United States Department of State. Washington, DC. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/wha/8329.htm [Accessed 14 Jan. 2003]

Noticias Aliadas [Lima]. 26 December 2002. Tim Rogers. "Pedófilos tras las rejas." http://www.latinamericapress.org/Summ.asp?lanCode=2&couCode=35 [Accessed 15 Jan. 2003]