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A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 15 december 2022
Costa Rica tightens overwhelmed asylum system

By JAVIER CORDOBA down on political oppo-
Associated Press nents ahead of national
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) elections. Ortega coasted
— Costa Rica, one of the to a fourth consecutive
world’s great refuges for term after potential chal-
people fleeing persecu- lengers were locked up.
tion, is tightening its gener- Arrests have continued
ous asylum policies in the this year, targeting critical
face of an overwhelmed nongovernmental organi-
system. zations, press outlets and
President Rodrigo Chaves, clergy.
who took office in May, In 2012, Costa Rica re-
said Costa Rica’s system is ceived barely 900 asylum
being abused by econom- applications. In 2018, that
ic migrants. The changes number reached nearly
he decreed took effect this 28,000. And through Sep-
month. tember of this year, it was
Despite having only 5 mil- already more than 67,000.
lion citizens, the Central Now there are more than
American country trailed 220,000 pending applica-
only the United States, Ger- tions to resolve.
many and Mexico in the Aiming to unclog the sys-
number of asylum applica- tem, the government has
tions it received last year, also created a special im-
according to the United Venezuelan migrant Carlos Rivas, left, sells sweets on a street in Heredia, Costra Rica, Tuesday, migration category for
Nations High Commissioner Dec. 6, 2022. people from Cuba, Nica-
for Refugees. Associated Press ragua, and Venezuela
Chaves first warned of the ify, so we are allowing the support has been insuffi- boring Nicaragua, amid -- nationals who make up
changes last month during good cause of asylum to cient. a brutal crackdown on 96% of the asylum seek-
a sudden influx of Venezu- be abused by hundreds of The United Nations said popular protests there in ers. They would be eligible
elan migrants stranded by thousands of people it’s that its International Or- 2018, swamped the asylum for a two-year work permit
a change in U.S. border that easy,” Chaves said. ganization for Migration system long before Ven- in exchange for dropping
policy. But it is Nicaraguans The president complained and High Commissioner for ezuelans became a visible their asylum cases, if they
who account for nearly that Costa Rica has been Refugees, or UNHCR, had presence in the streets of weren’t really in danger.
nine out of 10 of the appli- spending $300 million a disbursed $94 million since San Jose. This, of course, would also
cants. year to attend to the asy- 2018 to support migrants The arrival of Nicaraguans likely make them ineligible
“The (immigration agency) lum seekers, draining re- and asylum seekers in Cos- accelerated last year as for asylum in other coun-
tells us that 90% or more sources for health and edu- ta Rica. President Daniel Ortega’s tries, including the United
of the people don’t qual- cation, and international The exodus from neigh- government cracked States.q

Dutch court rejects challenge to

assisted suicide ban

By MIKE CORDER suicide.”Frits Spangenberg, or giving the patient the
Associated Press chairperson of the group drugs to take. Assisted sui-
THE HAGUE, Netherlands Cooperative Last Will, cide, the practice of some-
(AP) — A Dutch court on which brought the case one who is not a physician
Wednesday upheld the along with 29 individual providing a person with
Netherlands’ ban on as- plaintiffs, said he was dis- a self-administered lethal
sisted suicide, a setback appointed by the ruling, substance, remains illegal.
for activists who said the but vowed to fight on. He The Hague court said the
prohibition infringes on their said he would study the euthanasia law “properly
right to determine when decision with lawyers be- weighed up the various
their lives end. The Hague fore deciding whether to interests” of “on the one
District Court rejected the appeal. hand the social interest of Campaigners take their hats off in a show of respect for people
activists’ argument that the “I’m not surprised, but I’d protecting life and protect- who took their own lives in The Hague, Netherlands, on Oct. 10,
ban violated the Europe- hoped for more perspec- ing vulnerable persons, and 2022.
an Convention on Human tive,” Spangenberg said in on the other the interest of Associated Press
Rights. a telephone interview. those seeking assisted sui- tice to the daily misery of a tles and conditions.”
The “right to decide for The government did not re- cide.” growing group of people. Another organization, the
oneself about one’s own act to the ruling. But it noted that the condi- It is cruel, inhumane and Dutch Association for a
end of life is indeed pro- The Netherlands was the tions that must be met for cowardly.” Voluntary End of Life, also
tected” by the convention, first nation to legalize eu- a physician to perform eu- He said the court was “very criticized the decision, say-
the court said in a written thanasia. thanasia mean “not every- focused on euthanasia ing in a statement that
statement. A 2002 law allowed physi- one who considers their life options, which are good, it upheld a “situation in
“However, this right to self- cians to end the lives of complete will be able to re- but so bureaucratic and which the government de-
determination does not patients under strict condi- ceive assisted suicide.” only applied in the case of prives its citizens of the right
go so far that there is also tions, either by administer- Spangenberg said that hopeless medical suffering to die with dignity at their
a right to obtain assisted ing a fatal dose of drugs finding “does not do jus- with a lot of bells and whis- own discretion.”q