QCOSTARICA — The inclusion of additional crimes into the constitutional reform regarding extradition will be decided in the full Legislative Assembly after being approved by a special commission.
Legislators will vote on whether to add more crimes to the reform, which currently only contemplates international drug trafficking and terrorism, or whether to maintain the original wording.
“The motions for constitutional reform are discussed and approved in the plenary session, after receiving the affirmative opinion from the special commission without modifications to the original proposal presented by Pilar Cisneros, head of the ruling party (Partido Progreso Social Democrático – PPSD),” highlighted Fernando Campos, director of Congressional Technical Services.
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“A report from Technical Services is still awaited requesting whether or not it is feasible to add more crimes to the proposal,” said Óscar Izquierdo, president of the legislative forum and head of Partido Liberacion Nacional (PLN) legislative faction.
Horacio Alvarado, of the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) legislative faction, also declared that there is interest from his party in adding crimes linked to drug trafficking to the proposal.
The reform requires at least 38 votes for its approval in the first debate in the plenary session and then sent to the Constitutional Court or Sala IV as it is commonly referred to for a constitutional consult before moving to the second and final debate and voting.
In Costa Rica, article 32 of the Constitution establishes that no Costa Rican “may be compelled to leave the national territory.”
The bill promoted by the government of Rodrigo Chaves aims to reform the Constitution to make it possible to extradite Costa Ricans for cases of international drug trafficking and terrorism.
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Extradition and deportation are different.
According to the Migration Glossary of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), deportation is “an act of the State, in the exercise of its sovereignty, through which it sends a foreigner outside its territory to another place after rejecting its admission or if the permit to remain in said State has been terminated.”
On the other hand, extradition is the formal delivery of people, from one State to another, who are judicially required to be prosecuted. This power is usually based on international treaties or arrangements between States.
Costa Rica currently has extradition agreements with the United States, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Italy, Belgium, Spain and China. Costa Rica has signed bilateral extradition agreements with several other countries, however, they have not been ratified by the Legislative Assembly.
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