Inter-American Court of Human Rights

President Luis Guillermo Solís on Monday expressed support for Costa Rican families regardless of the form they take, including those seeking children via in vitro fertilization.

Costa Rica is (still) the only country in the Western Hemisphere to ban IVF.

Costa Rica is the only country in the Western Hemisphere to completely ban in vitro fertilization. Some 70 couples are suing the government for denying them the right to undergo the procedure, asking for compensation of up to ₡150 million each.

A draft currently pending discussion by members of the Legislative Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee has over 300 motions against its approval.

Former Judge Guillermo López: “It’s unheard of that a high court of justice would make an effort to legitimize what had been a coup d’etat.”

After being held for three years in preventive detention without charges, Russian asylum-seeker Evgeny Konstantinovich Otto went on a hunger strike Oct. 16 to draw attention to his case. His plight has caught the attention of several human rights organizations in Costa Rica that held a joint press conference on Wednesday demanding Otto’s immediate release and the granting to him of refugee status in Costa Rica.

Auschwitz survivor and former Inter-American Court of Human Rights president Thomas Buerguenthal received an honorary doctorate in recognition for his leadership in and promotion of human rights, including the founding of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Friday.

Honduras' Garifuna people on Tuesday asked an international court to help them recover ancestral land, which they say has been lost to development and is threatening their culture.

Lawmakers could not reach a quorum to take up the long-delayed bill, violating another deadline set by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.