In Costa Rica, many girls and adolescents still live trapped in improper couple relationships

Although the problem has declined in recent years, there are still many cases of adult men who relate to minors. Part of the population continues to justify such abusive and macho relationships.

Indeed, Costa Rica has shown advances in social issues such as the reduction of teenage pregnancies, and this problem continues to affect hundreds of Costa Rican households.

In addition, 5,920 births were registered among adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19. That is, 16 births a day.

Added to this situation is the fact that many of the girls who are mothers are also linked to an improper relationship, in which their partners are men of adult age.

"these are unequal relationships because-usually-one of the two people has greater tools, purchasing power and more experience at the level of partner relationships," explains Magaly Rojas, executive professional and psychologist in care for women of violence in the Huetar North Regional Unit of the National Women's Institute (INAMU).

In addition to teenage pregnancies, there are a number of consequences generated by improper relationships:

Marcadas diferencias de edad

In Costa Rica, women begin an improper relationship when they are still girls as young as 10, according to INAMU.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) and UNFPA, 611 births were registered in the country in 2020 in girls aged 14 years or younger. This represents 0.8 per cent of all births in the country.

As for adolescent girls aged 15 to 19, 15,999 births were registered in 2020. That is 20.5 per cent of all births.

Una sociedad que normaliza y alimenta las relaciones impropias

Despite alarming statistics, society continues to look at such situations and normalize and feed the fact that a man is with a minor woman.

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According to Milena Grillo, Director of Strategy and Innovation at the PANIAMOR Foundation, it is normal for families to justify this behavior with myths such as:

Why do unequal relationships continue to be justified?

For Grillo, there are many fundamental reasons, driven among other things by the economic need of families, who see in this type of man how to obtain additional resources to cover household expenses. In this way, men also exercise power relations and even guardianship over women.

"there are also pseudo-romantic situations that justify improper relations," says the PANIAMOR Foundation official. This has to do with the fact that many women idealize these men and see them as suitable.

Al amparo de la ley

La Ley de Relaciones Impropias 9406 castiga con cárcel a quienes siendo mayores de edad mantengan relaciones sexuales con personas menores de 15 años, si la diferencia de edad entre ambos es de cinco o más años. Impone el mismo castigo cuando el menor de edad tenga entre menos de 18 y más de 15 años, si la diferencia de edad entre ambos es de 7 años o más. Además, prohíbe la inscripción de matrimonios que incluyan a personas menores de edad ante el Registro Civil.

In 2019, the Commission for Monitoring improper Relations became operational. This Commission, made up of institutions such as PANIAMOR, INAMU, Pani, the Costa Rican Social Security Fund, IMAS, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Ministry of Public Health, among others, establishes a work plan on what needs to be done in this area.

"we began to give workshops to public officials to establish and clarify the knots that we were stumbling into in the law, because it was already in force for two years. We made progress because the Supreme Electoral Tribunal was beginning to give data on children born to minors, "said the representative of INAMU.

One of the obstacles, however, was that such data did not reflect the age of the parents, and it was therefore difficult to establish whether the births had taken place within the framework of improper relations.

For this reason, the Commission begins to raise awareness through workshops among key officials from different institutions, so that they can capture when they receive a case of improper relations and thus give proper follow-up to it.

Currently, entities such as INAMU and PANI are working to denaturate this type of relations and to put an end to the myths that continue to justify improper relations in society.

However, the Minister for the Status of Women stressed that there was much to be done, including promoting a change in cultural patterns that did not naturalize such behaviour, introducing ways to eliminate violence, empowering underage women, educating on the subject and identifying situations of risk.

How to report an improper relationship?

He can go to the courts.

Llamar al 9-1-1 para pedir asesoría.