From January to May, 2016, 1492 people asked for refugee in Costa Rica.
According to Gladys Jiménez, head of Directorate General of Immigration, two years ago, 1384 asylum applications were filed, while in 2015 that number rose to 2203. However, during this year, 1492 people has requested refugee.
During the past 15 years, Costa Rica has granted protection to more than 9500 people from 40 different countries.
Costa Rica has become a role model in the region because it doesn’t only deal with refugees’ requests, it also counts on one ministry that knows what are shelters’ conditions and on an administrative court that knows about refugee’s requests when they are appealed,
said Jiménez.
On the other hand, Juan Carlos Murillo, U.N. Refugee Agency member, stated that it was thought that Central American people immigrated because of economic reasons, but more people are seeking refuge due to the violence in their countries, especially in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.