Progress in the Implementation of a Dashboard on Trafficking in Persons in Costa Rica

On November 29, representatives of United Nations (UN) agencies in Costa Rica and government officials from the institutions that belong to the Special Technical Commission of the National Coalition against the Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons (CONATT) met to present the progress made in the implementation of a dashboard with statistical information on trafficking in persons. During this meeting, representatives of various institutions met to take a firm step towards the implementation of a dashboard focused on this crime, with this tool seeks to support -through a quality statistical process- the management and visualization of data related to the characterization of the accreditation of persons as victims of trafficking.

The initiative, led jointly with the National Coalition against the Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons and other national entities such as the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), the Directorate General of Migration and Aliens, and the National Children’s Trust (PANI), aims to strengthen the technical capacities of the institutions, optimize the production of reliable statistics and facilitate decision-making based on evidence.

The presentation began with the intervention of Ms. Adriana Oropeza Lliteras, who presented the activities and areas of work of the UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence. In her presentation, she highlighted the importance of quality statistics in the fight against trafficking in persons, explaining the different types of statistical tools available and their usefulness in optimizing public policies. In addition, she detailed the development of the Dashboard on Victims of Trafficking in Costa Rica, a tool that seeks to provide an efficient means to consult the statistical series of integrated indicators on accredited victims of trafficking, to design indicators with high geographical granularity (detail) and to characterize victims according to specific populations such as children, adolescents, women and other vulnerable groups.

During her explanation, Ms. Adriana Oropeza described the phases followed for the development of the Dashboard, which included the initial technical recommendations of the Center of Excellence, the definition of the scope and requirements to achieve its implementation, the selection of appropriate technologies for data visualization, the analysis of the national context, the design and construction of tools for data collection, support for the updating of accreditation procedures, the statistical strengthening of the institutions involved, and the processes of registration, data cleaning and consolidation, which ended with the implementation of the Dashboard.

Wendy Fuentes and Silvia Artavia from Human Trafficking Management commented on the different challenges they faced in collecting information in a structured way and how useful it was to have the International Classification of Crimes for Statistical Purposes (ICCS), the International Standard for Classifying Administrative Records on Trafficking in Persons (ICS-TiP), and the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons Questionnaire (GLOTIP) indicators as reference tools to structure and standardize data collection.

Ms. Perla Bernal Avila then presented the dashboard and explained its main components. This system has four main sections: a) the first section presents the number of trafficked persons per year, with data disaggregated into applications received and victims accredited; b) the second section details applications for accreditation as victims of trafficking, with information disaggregated by age group, sex, nationality and migration status: (c) the third section covers persons accredited as victims, using the same disaggregations as above, but adding other variables such as gender identity, education level, occupation, province of residence and mother tongue; and finally, (d) the fourth section provides information on the characteristics of the events reported by the victims, making it possible to visualize data on the forms of recruitment, the means of recruitment, the places of recruitment and the countries of exploitation.

This dashboard represents not only a technological advance, but also a firm commitment on the part of Costa Rica to fight human trafficking with modern and efficient tools. The possibility of analyzing data in real time will facilitate the institutional response, the design of more effective strategies, and the comprehensive protection of victims.

With this innovative tool, Costa Rica positions itself at the forefront of the use of statistical data to combat trafficking in persons, strengthening inter-institutional work and building a more just and secure future for its citizens.