Controversy in Costa Rica over safety guide for female tourists

A guide for female tourists that gives recommendations on how to dress, interact and behave is causing a controversy in Costa Rica on Tuesday and harsh criticism of the Government, before which the country’s president, Carlos Alvarado, has ordered the correction of the text.

Although the guide was published in June 2021, it was not until Monday that it began to circulate massively on social networks and the media, in a context marked by a case of a sexual attack on two European female tourists that occurred last week. in Puerto Viejo beach, in the Costa Rican Caribbean.

The document provides recommendations to women tourists such as “try to dress similar to the local to avoid attracting attention”, “avoid walking alone at night”, “maintain personal control” in case of drinking alcoholic beverages and “be careful with messages that a friendly or trusting attitude can generate.

Among the organizations that have repudiated the Guide to Good Practices for Tourism is UNIDAS Talamanca, which considers the text a “revictimization.”

“We repudiate the negligent action of the Government, which through its institutions places the blame for sexual assaults on the victims, with ‘recommendations’ aimed at limiting our physical autonomy, including those that cover our way of dressing, the time we the one we decided to go out, the alcohol we decided to consume, among others,” the organization said.

The statement adds that the document contains “profoundly revictimizing” measures that “reproduce and justify the structural violence that women suffer every day.”

“Again, we must claim that the attacks will never be the responsibility of the victim. To suggest otherwise is to feed the stereotype that, in a sexual assault, the woman’s behavior should be reviewed,” he lamented.

The Government explained that the guide was prepared by the National Tourism Security Commission (CONSETUR) made up of the Ministry of Public Security, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), the Public Ministry, the Judicial Investigation Agency, the Embassy of the United States States and the National Chamber of Tourism, and reviewed by the National Institute for Women (Inamu).

Since Monday, the document has generated numerous criticisms from feminist organizations, deputies and citizens in general on social networks, to which President Alvarado reacted.

“I have instructed the ICT and the INAMU to immediately review the guide, published in June 2021, prior to the unacceptable crimes in Puerto Viejo, because it contains statements that are totally out of place, in any context, that must be corrected. Violence against women does not it has no justification and we must combat it from all areas,” said President Carlos Alvarado.

The Government assured that the document aims to help create “safe environments” and has denied that it is related to the case of sexual assault suffered by the two European tourists last week, since the guide was published in June.

“Training for police forces on issues of violence against women will be doubled and the 72-hour protocol will be revised to attend to women victims in a timely manner, among other measures proposed, all with the aim of ensuring that women tourist communities are safe places for all people, and in particular for women, whether they are locals or visitors”, indicates a government statement. (I)