McDuffie, Devin

04/06/2017
PL SC 451
Civil Society Paper
After the initial drafting of the United Declaration of Human Rights in 1945, female

emancipation was still an issue. Women had no power to vote, had little recognition in legal

fields, and in general, were seen as inferior to men. Through these reasons, it became important

for States like Costa Rica to recognize the rights that women were entitled to, especially in terms

of reproductive rights. As a result, there came about NGOs such as the Center for Reproductive

Rights, whos overall purpose was to fight for the advancement of reproductive freedom for all

women. Through closely looking at the history of womens rights in Costa Rica, analyzing the

work of the Center for Reproductive Rights, and looking at the success of certain projects, this

paper will offer an overview of the type of work that certain NGOs attribute to the Universal

Periodic Review.

After Costa Rica gained its independence from Spain in 1821, women continued to be

denied of their education, social and economic rights, and political rights (including the right to

vote). Because of this, the womens suffrage movement began, creating a new wave of feminism

in Costa Rica. Many feminist movements that occurred during the 60s and 70s were led by

women who had come back from studying similar movements that occurred in Europe. Slowly,

as democracy spread throughout the regions, so did the push for reproductive rights. In 1977, the

Womens Liberation Movement (MLM) was formed, creating one of the most important and

influential movements in the history of womens reproductive rights in Costa Rica (Carcedo

1997, 19). However, it was not until the early 1990s, that feminist movements for reproductive

rights truly took shape. Womens movements had to constantly adapt due to the ever- changing

nature of the political climate of Costa Rica. These groups strongly emphasized abortion rights
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and contraceptive use, allowing for more civil society actors to join in on the movement. As a

result, the Center for Reproductive Rights was formed, and has been fighting for womens

reproductive rights for the past 20 years. Though the history of womens rights is a key issue in

understanding the overall work of this NGO, it is also important to note the type of work that this

organization does.

The Center for Reproductive Rights has worked tirelessly in order to implement the

rights of self-determination, human dignity, and equality that are promised and enshrined within

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In Costa Rica, the Center for Reproductive Rights

fights for the rights of women so that they may exercise their rights without coercion or

discrimination. The center works closely with the United Nations Human Rights Council by

providing necessary information regarding human rights issues and violence against women. The

Center plays a vital role in identifying and reporting on violations of the rights of women in

Costa Rica to the United Periodical Review. The Center is also heavily relied upon to develop

human rights standards and practical guidelines for government and civil society groups to

eliminate barriers regarding womens rights violations. In Costa Rica specifically, this civil

society has recently worked on projects centering around womens reproductive rights with local

organizations in order to ensure that specific womens rights are being enforced.

In 2001, the Constitutional Chambers of Costa Rica ruled that in vitro fertilization

infringed upon the right to life and dignity of the human being. As a result, Costa Rica became

the only member State of the United Nations to ban IVF. In 2014, during the second reporting of

the Universal Periodic Review, the Center for Reproductive Rights noted that the Costa Rican

State has denied in vitro fertilization healthcare services to sterile couples, affecting their right to

reproductive health in a discriminatory fashion (Center for Reproductive Rights 2014a, 5). In
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2012, the Center for Reproductive Rights along with the American Civil Liberties Union, sent

lawyers to Costa Rica to fight for the reproductive rights of women in one of the most

controversial cases regarding womens rights in Costa Rica. Artavia Murillo et al. v. Costa Rica

established for the first time in international law that not only are reproductive rights human

rights, but that embryo rights do not trump womens rights. The case soon gained international

attention and quickly became known as the Roe v. Wade of Latin America and International

Law (Center for Reproductive Rights 2014b, 1). For 15 years, both of these groups worked hard

within the Costa Rican court rooms, and December of 2016, the Inter-American Court of Human

Rights ruled that the IVF ban violates the rights to privacy, liberty, and overall womens rights of

choice.

The brief overview of history, examining the type of work that the Center for

Reproductive Rights does in Costa Rica, as well as looking at projects that this organization has

completed, have all contributed to understanding the struggle for womens rights in Costa Rica.

Due to the fact that Costa Rica has not had to struggle for human rights, it has allowed the State

to focus on more specific human rights that other States are not necessarily as focused on,

including womens reproductive rights. In addition, the implementation of new legislations

regarding reproductive rights can be attributed to the type of rights this organization focuses on.

Finally, the different projects that this organization works on also helps to show the achievements

of this group. Through these main points, it can be noted that even though womens rights still

have a long way to go, organizations such as the Center for Reproductive Rights propels not only

human rights in a better direction but womens rights as well.

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Bibliography

Cardedo, Ana. 1997. Improving the Quality of Womens Daily Lives. The Costa Rican
Womens Movement. University of Pittsburgh Press.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctt9qh7kj.9.pdf (April 1, 2017).

Sharratt, Sara. 1997. The Suffragist Movement in Costa Rica, 18891949: Centennial of
Democracy? The Costa Rican Womens Movement. University of Pittsburgh Press.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctt9qh7kj.15.pdf (April 1, 2017).

The Center for Reproductive Rights. 2014a. FIV en Costa Rica: Caso Artavia Murillo y Otros
(Fecundacin in Vitro) v. Costa Rica. [In Viro Fertilization in Costa Rica: the case of
Artavia Murillo and others v. Costa Rica].
https://www.reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/FIV-EN-
COSTA-RICA_SPN.pdf (April 1, 2017).

The Center for Reproductive Rights. 2014b. Latin America and The Carribean. Costa Rica.
https://www.reproductiverights.org/our-regions/latin-america-caribbean/costa-rica (April
2, 2017).

United Nations. 2014. Summary of Stakeholders Information: Costa Rica. Universal Periodic
Review. 5-6. United Nations, New York. https://documents-dds-
ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G14/104/31/PDF/G1410431.pdf?OpenElement (April 6,
2017).