New law in Costa Rica taps into Canadian expertise to tackle the issue of stalking

She says most countries in Latin America do not have laws against stalking, and it is typically associated with more generalized forms of sexual harassment. But one of the characteristic features of stalking “is how obsessive it is and how dangerous it can be,” Belber notes. Statistics show a high correlation between stalking and the murder of victims, or femicide.

The TAP team held a conference on the issue at the Legislative Assembly with the Canada-Costa Rica Parliamentary Friendship group and Canada’s Embassy to Costa Rica. “It put people in a room to learn about what stalking is and how Costa Rica could take some action legislatively to respond to it,” Belber explains. This generated broader interest in Costa Rica’s anti-stalking legislation, which passed with strong support from elected deputies.

Putting a “gender lens” on cyber crime

The second request was for the team to assist the country’s judicial branch by putting a “gender lens” on the issue of cybercrime. Belber says it is typically defined narrowly as fraud and identity theft. Judges, prosecutors and judicial investigative police discussed ways that technology-facilitated violence can leave women, youth and gender-diverse people vulnerable, and were taught “trauma-informed” responses to support victims of these crimes.

Belber says a big part of Justice Canada’s work under TAP is to address inequality. “This is an initiative that really gets at the core of violence against women and gender-based violence,” she says. Globally, and particularly in Latin America where stalking has largely not been criminalized, the dangers of stalking and cybercrimes against women are not well understood in the public consciousness. “Certainly not in the legislation or in the ability of law enforcement officials to respond,” she explains. The aim of Costa Rica’s new anti-stalking law is to “arm the victims and survivors with another tool to respond to the situation they are living in.”

Kattia Cambronero Aguiluz is the Costa Rican deputy who led the bill’s passage. She says it makes it illegal for anyone to harass a person repeatedly and insistently in a way that affects their privacy, integrity, private life or activities, either physically, using cyber means or through third parties.

“We are finally going to be able to judge those people who persistently harass other individuals,” she comments. “Costa Rica will be at the forefront of criminal matters, along with other nations that have committed to minimizing this type of violence that is so traumatic for its victims.”

Mauricio Ondoy Villalobos, chief of staff to Aguiluz, says the involvement of the Justice Canada team helped to sensitize the Costa Rican officials about how countries such as Canada regulate stalking. He says it was important to create a dialogue about stalking involving legislators, judges, women’s groups, public defenders and prosecutors. The Canadian assistance under TAP helped with this and more, he notes.

A partner with credibility

“The collaboration of Canada was really important, because Canada is well known for human rights development,” says Villalobos “It's really important to have a partner that has credibility and that has leadership in the topic that you want to legislate.”

Costa Rica had a series of cases covered by the media where women were targeted by stalkers but could not get justice in the courts because stalking was not criminalized, he says. Aguiluz proposed the bill to get help for such victims.

Villalobos says the challenge today is raising awareness about the new law. “The work is not done yet. Education must be done with judges, public defenders, prosecutors and society in general,” he explains. He hopes Costa Rica’s passage of the legislation will also have an impact elsewhere. “I want to see that we are a part of a change in the world.”

Sofia Guerrero is a political-economic officer at the Embassy of Canada to Costa Rica who supported the TAP initiative.She says that “it's very satisfying to know that you can help to create change and influence policy in a positive way.”

She says TAP is “a very valuable tool for countries that have a gap in knowledge or inexperience with certain issues.” It is a good way to offer Canadian expertise and experience “so objectives that we share, for example gender equality, are achieved.” She says the model allows the governments of two countries to create a “special working connection” with each other. “It helps to deepen our relationship.”

Canada’s technical support addressed concerns that Costa Rican deputies and others had about the bill and helped speed its passage, she points out. “That's one of the reasons why, when the bill was passed, Canada's support was formally acknowledged by the parliamentarians, because it really made a difference.”

A country with gender equality in its foreign policy

Guerrero is pleased that Canada could apply its expertise in Costa Rica on issues related to gender equality and gender-based violence. “I feel proud to work for a country that has gender equality in its foreign policy. That is an approach that not all countries have, and at a moment in time where women's movements are enduring setbacks.”

Belber says that by doing international assistance work, such as under TAP, her “horizons are broadened. To have an international perspective on what justice means, who it serves, what the realities are, is very enriching.”

It is also humbling to learn about realities elsewhere, she says. “There are some things that maybe we take for granted here in Canada and then inversely, there are things that I learn in working with other countries that show that there are other ways of doing things that are really interesting,” Belber notes. “We actually import a lot of knowledge too, a lot of good ideas.”

Now that the anti-stalking legislation has been passed in Costa Rica, Belber says the focus is on its implementation there. The Justice Canada team often continues to stay in touch after formal projects come to an end “because we have networks,” she says.

For example, after the TAP deployments in Costa Rica, Costa Rican women's collectives and Canadian victim services and support organizations held a virtual event. They discussed issues such as what stalking looks like, how it manifests and how to assess risk.

Belber notes that these exchanges can have an impact in countries where Justice Canada is implementing TAP and other international programming. Justice Canada has begun to apply this approach in other countries that are similarly dealing with their own anti-stalking legislation, such as Kazakhstan.