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Core of Costa Rica’s foreign policy
The public policy and political culture of Costa Rica have created a long-standing democracy and a stable republic in Central America. Costa Rica remains one of the few countries without a standing army of any kind and only maintains national police forces.
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Oscar Arias, President of the Arias Foundation, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former president of Costa Rica, attends the Arms Trade Treaty meeting in Cancun August 24, 2015. (Reuters/Victor Ruiz Garcia)
M
ost Indonesians I have met are knowledgeable about Costa Rica. Although Costa Rica is a small country in Central America with a little over 5 million people — less than half of Jakarta’s population — it has a long history.
This year we celebrated the 198th anniversary of our independence. In 1869, free and obligatory primary education was established and in 1882 Costa Rica abolished capital punishment. This principle is protected in the Constitution of the Republic of Costa Rica, which provides that “human life is inviolable”.
These two events laid the foundation of our commitment to strong rule of law under civilian power, egalitarian social culture and the axis of the country´s future foreign policy.
On Dec. 1, 1948, after a short civil war in which 2,000 people were killed, then-president José Figueres Ferrer abolished the military and transformed the most important military base in the country into a national museum. From that moment on, the national resources allocated for military expenses have been directed toward social investment in free education, healthcare services and environmental protection.
The public policy and political culture of Costa Rica have created a long-standing democracy and a stable republic in Central America. Costa Rica remains one of the few countries without a standing army of any kind and only maintains national police forces. As we do not have military troops to defend our country, our troops are our teachers and diplomats, who educate our children and defend us in international forums.
These experiences pave the way to our foreign policy. Costa Rica is a country that has made the universal values of human rights, sustainable development, democracy, the rule of international law and norms and environmental protection the fundamental pillars of our foreign policy. We are truly committed to promoting them. Those values have been part of our identity and have been internalized, not only by Costa Rican diplomats, but also our people.
Costa Rica played an important role in establishing the United Nations Human Rights Commission and later successfully endorsed the establishment of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Since 1947, Costa Rica has held a seat in the Human Rights Council over six times. As a proof of our commitment to human rights, San José, the capital of Costa Rica, is the host of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States.
