Costa Rica: More shadows than lights regarding disability issues
Reflections as the change of government administrations take place in Costa Rica
By Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens
On May 8, during a simple ceremony, the now ex-president of the Republic, Miguel Rodríguez Echeverría, made way for the new President, Abel Pacheco de la Espriella, who won the election on April 7. Both belong to the same political party, the Unidad Social Cristiana (Social Christian Unity Party).
This is a good time to evaluate balances and define our perspectives for the country on several issues. But, we are more interested here, in assessing what is the status of disability in our country, after the four-year term of President Rodríguez, and to provide some insights regarding what the new administration, headed by President Pacheco, could do.
Comply with a legal instrument
The government that was launched four years ago (May 8, 1998), had a very serious responsibility, to comply with the Law 7600 Equal Opportunities Law for Persons with Disabilities, approved in 1996 and Regulations in effect since March 1998.
From a judicial stand point, there was a clear assignment: the Law 7600 and its Regulations, had established a series of clear mandates and obligations for the institutions of the State to comply pursuant to the principle of equal opportunities and to the effective development of the process of equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities.
Article 1 of this law establishes: "The total development of the population with disabilities, on equal conditions of quality, opportunity, rights, and obligations as the rest of society, is hereby declared public interest."
The objectives indicated by this Law, emphasize the elimination of "any type of discrimination against persons with disabilities" and the establishing of "judicial and material foundations allowing society to adopt the necessary measures enforce the equalization of opportunities and the non discrimination principles regarding persons with disabilities."
At the same time, the Regulation for Law 7600 indicate: "Public institutions will include within their annual operation plans or annual work plans, in the corresponding formulation periods, the actions and projects needed to ensure persons with disabilities due access to services and to equal opportunities in all the regions and communities of the country" (Article 2, of the Regulations). The Regulations also state the obligation, for all the institution, to include the necessary budget required to accomplish planning (Article 3).
Lights and shadows
What happened during these years of the administration of Miguel Angel Rodríguez. With respect to what had to be done, as established by the Law 7600 and its Regulations?
Let us see.
At the beginning of its term, with respect to disability issues, the administration of Dr. Rodríguez Echeverría, had a serious challenge: to start a process of equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities, judicially and politically supported by the Law 7600 and the Regulations. The preceding administration (José María Figueres, 1994-1998), had the Law 7600 (the What to do), but it did not have the Regulations (the How). That is because the Regulations were approved just a few months before the end of his administration.
At the end of the administration of former President Rodrígues it is possible to affirm that the balance with respect to the institutional compliance of the main parts of Law 7600 and its Regulations, is weak, not deep, and deficient. Consequently, there has been no important change in the conditions and in the quality of life of the population with disabilities in Costa Rica.
Though there are some advances in the accessibility to some services, there is very little progress with respect to accessibility to the physical and architectural environment regarding discrimination. Lack of accessibility still prevails and there is a lot to be done to begin to eliminate discrimination and exclusion of persons with disabilities. In other words, shadows are dominating over the light, which is still timid and weak.
Except for a few and isolated institutions, the administration of former President Rodríguez did not address disability issues, nor the compliance with Law 7600 with important public policies. Accompanying this absence of priorities and commitment toward the topic and urgent needs of the majority of the population of persons with disabilities, he delegated part of the disability topics to the Office of the former First Lady, Lorena Clare de Rodríguez.
With this, the past administration committed two serious errors: one the one hand, it substantially restricted the scope of its actions on disability issues, restricting itself to the efforts made by the Office of the First Lady. This created the mirage that something was being done, while the truth is that most public institutions did not undertake any action. On the other hand, the actions and initiatives that emerged from this office, that in theory would have an advanced paradigmatic focus, in practice was tinted with the pitiful, traditional patronizing results.
To be fair, it should be clarified that, the efforts of the Office of the First Lady, although containing some errors of focus, deserve to be congratulated. Within the present balance, criticism rather goes to the government for delegating, instead of assuming through its different institutions, the responsibilities it had to perform with vigor and efficiency.
The administration of Dr. Rodríguez did not comply with the key elements of Law 7600 and its Regulations. It did not prove a conscious and clear commitment to the principle of equal opportunities. Consequently, during the last four years, there was no significant advance regarding the situation of exclusion of persons with disabilities in the country.
A typical example: transportation
As an example of the above situation, it is worth mentioning the case of the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Works and Transportation. This government body has a critical role regarding accessibility to the physical environment and in making public transportation accessible.
In both of these fields the actions of the Ministry have been limited and deficient. In Costa Rica, even if collective private transportation is in the hands of private companies, the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation -through the Public Transportation Council- is responsible for awarding or eliminating transportation permits and concessions, depending upon compliance with the law by these private transportation service providers. So then, with respect to accessible transportation, this institution has not shown interest in complying with the Law 7600.
When there is only one year left of the 7-year period that this law indicated for the Ministry to make the national bus fleet accessible to all users -including those using wheelchairs- there is not one single accessible bus in the country. It should be mentioned that private transportation providers have stated that Law 7600 is exaggerated and very costly to enforce. They have not even started the initial steps toward accessibility. The power that transportation companies have as a pressure group, explains to a great extent why the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation is not complying with the accessible transportation requirements.
In response to this situation, last year the Forum for Human Rights of Persons with Disabilites presented, together with the Center for International Justice and International Law, to the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights a demand against the Costa Rican State because of its lack of compliance in making collective transportation accessible.
The chasm between theory and practice
It is pertinent to reflect on the existing chasm between theory and practice, with respect to how the government handled disability issues.
When leaving, the past administration officials presented their own evaluation of accomplishments and mentioned the fact that during their term the Costa Rican State contributed to the approval of the Interamerican Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities, and was the first one to ratify it.
Both of these things are correct but, what is not true, is that such efforts evidence a sustainable and practical commitment to people with disabilities. In fact, the Costa Rican State, did not support any type of program that would otherwise show that it was conscious of the extent of the international instrument it had approved and ratified, in terms of concrete and tangible improvements to the living conditions of persons with disabilities. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
Here it is worth mentioning that, when we point out the lack of insufficient compliance with Law 7600, we were not expecting that spectacular advances would be made in the last four years. The absence of growth in the economy of our country, for example, does not support such expectations. What we are indicating is that much could have been done, a lot more. And due to a lack of an objective assessment of the situation faced by the immense majority of persons with disabilities, more than 300,000, no programmed actions and efforts were made to comply with the dispositions of Law 7600.
We also have to mention that this situation has among its causes, the still limited status of the social movement of persons with disabilities. This weakness of this movement was mentioned, in 1999, by the United Nations Special Rappourteur Bengt Linquist, when he visited Costa Rica. The situation still prevails though there are positive signs that the situation is changing. One of them is the birth, at the end of year 2000, of the Costa Rican Forum for Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities and some actions taken by the movement during 2001.
Perspectives?
After May 8, we have a new tenant in the Presidential House, Dr. Abel Pacheco. What advances will there be during his administration in the field of disability? It is too soon to tell.
For now, the foundations to place disability into perspective are bittersweet. Bitter in the since that, while being presidential candidate Dr. Pacheco, particularly during a public debate on disability, showed ignorance of the topic and held the traditional patronizing (assistencialist) approach regarding the problems and needs of the population with disabilities.
Even his idea of creating citadels so that people with disabilities could live and provide the country a cheaper solution to the accessibility needs for transportation and other services, was rejected by the leaders and activists of the disability community, who concluded that the proposal had hidden "ghetto" misconceptions which are contrary to inclusion.
Sweet, because this new stage also provides a chance of hope, because during his inauguration speech, the new President, Pacheco, mentioned disability on two occasions, when indicating the priorities of the agenda for his administration.
We just hope that, in the ideas and actions for disability during the new administration, the sweet part wins over the bitter. Only in this way, there will be more inclusion lights than shadows of discrimination, after President Pacheco ends his four year term.
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