by Inés de Ros Casacuberta (translated by Liliana Foletti)

06 May 2010

Managua, Nicaragua: In the last five years the migratory flux of Nicaraguans to Costa Rica has experienced a great increase. Of the Nicaraguans who have migrated to Costa Rica, representing around 0.8 per cent of Nicaragua’s population, there are 70,000* without any kind of documentation, according to official sources of the Government of Costa Rica.

This does not only pose a problem for the authorities and other entities collecting migratory data and planning public policies, but it also means difficulties for individuals who want to regularise their migratory status in the neighbouring country.

Working as a UNV volunteer at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Nicaragua, I was able to take part in efforts towards the regulation of migrants by actively participating in the creation of informative materials to be distributed among the migrant population at the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Nicaragua is the Central American country with the highest number of undocumented citizens: approximately 1.9 million people (35 percent of its population) are not registered – 1.5 million of them are children**. Lack of documentation is a serious problem in Nicaraguan society, mainly among the poorest and most vulnerable parts of the population.

The Supreme Electoral Council of Nicaragua (SEC), as well as several United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NG0s), such as UNICEF and Save the Children, have made great efforts organizing campaigns in order to register children. The right to be registered, part of the right to have an identity, is an essential right included in several judicial instruments of the Nicaraguan legislation.

The registration of each citizen at the Civil Register is essential in order to have an identity and a nationality. Public authorities should have an accurate account of the population in order to design suitable public policies; but identification is also key to providing citizens with access to public services and letting them fully exercise their constitutional rights, such as the right to vote.

In order to solve this problem, delegations of the SEC carry out periodic mobile registration campaigns throughout the country. Thanks to such initiatives, citizens of remote rural and urban areas have easy access to registration. Nevertheless, it is common to find cases of double and triple registration of the same individual. During these campaigns, the SEC has found that many people do not know how to register or do not even know a registry exists.

Why is there a lack of registration in Nicaragua? First of all, Civil Registry bureaus are far from remote rural communities, so the cost of getting there and of losing a day’s work is too high. Secondly, indirect costs associated with the issuing of ID card or certifications are also unaffordable for many, as are photos and photocopies. This, and lack of information cause little awareness about the importance of registering in many areas of Nicaragua.

The high rate of migration from Nicaragua to Costa Rica increases the urgency to have proper documentation and identification of citizens who, without it, have no immigration rights. Nicaraguans who are correctly identified in Costa Rica are able to regularise their migratory status, an obvious advantage for both the governments and the individuals.

Due to the high rate of undocumented Nicaraguans in Costa Rica, the Consulate of Nicaragua in San José has decided to issue a consular certification – a document obtainable by any Nicaraguan who is identified by two witnesses at the Consulate. The consular certification is cheap and easy to acquire, and is accepted as identification by the Government of Costa Rica. Nevertheless, implementation is slow as there are not enough resources and funds to meet the high demand. After the recent passing of the new Migration and Immigration Law, only 3,000 of the 70,000 applications have been processed***.

Managing Nicaraguan migration in Costa Rica is so important for the economy and social welfare of both countries that Labour Ministers have signed an Agreement aiming to regulate it. Furthermore, the Spanish Agency for Cooperation and Development (AECID), with the contribution of the IOM, is implementing the “Co-development” project. This project involves many Nicaraguan and Costa Rican government institutions and establishes the basis for migratory fluxes in order to get the benefits of a regularised migration. 

When I arrived as a UNV volunteer at the IOM in Nicaragua, this project was already underway. Regulation was one of the key points on the agenda, and on top of creating and distributing informative materials, I also took part in the analysis and discussions on the new Migration and Immigration Law at the National Assembly, where IOM provides its expertise and advice, and in every type of meeting with other UN agencies and NGOs held to promote the right of Nicaraguans to identification.

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* Source: Marta Cranshow, Manager of the Nicaraguan Network of Civil Society for Migration.
** Source: Hugo Rodríguez, consultant at the Civil Registry for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
*** Source: General Department of Migration and Immigration of Costa Rica.