The majority of requests for refuge in Costa Rica are made by citizens of El Salvador and Colombia, indicated the Ministry of the Interior.
Our country annually receives refugee applications from more than 40 different nationalities.
Data was delivered as part of the commemoration of World Refugee Day, an activity that was held at the Presidential Palace this Monday morning.
From this stage, public institutions created a working team that detected 31 social support programs to help individuals seeking refuge in this country.
Carmen Munoz, Deputy Minister of the Interior, stated that the authorities accumulated 9,500 requests for refuge, but not all of them have been received.
“The requests are to come to study, [but] not everything is achieved that would bring a favorable resolution, because the entire refugee process begins in Migration, then goes to the Visa Committee, and eventually, to the Immigration Court.
Not all of these requests are accepted as such, and I think the number of refugees exceeds 9,500,” he said.
Munoz said that the struggle for the improvement of the conditions of the refugees is important for the defense of human rights.
“Those who fight for human rights have learned that the paths that lead to success are full of pitfalls, which seem insurmountable. We overcame this perception and have arrived at the conclusion that in the case of refugees, integration is an achievable utopia,” he said.
Jose Manuel Cortissoz has been a Colombian refugee for 16 years and stated that he is grateful to live in this country. Cortissoz requested that the authorities open their arms to refugees, since the condition he was in was not easy to live with.
“To be a refugee is not easy, but it is not impossible, everything with a purpose is fulfilled. I invite Costa Rica to open its arms to the refugees, because being a refugee is not easy,” he said.
The activities that are part of the World Refugee Day celebration will be extended until this Sunday, June 26.
