Countries / Costa Rica / Dossier
Costa Rica
A combined view of Costa Rica's UN General Assembly speeches, treaty commitments, and voting record.
The narrative paragraphs below are AI-generated syntheses of the data shown — the tables and figures themselves come directly from the underlying records, not from the AI.
Compare with another country →Speech history
Costa Rica has maintained a remarkably consistent commitment to multilateralism and international law across fourteen years of General Assembly speeches, with multilateralism scores rarely dipping below 79. The country's rhetoric has evolved from emotionally intense, literary appeals in the mid-2000s—grounded in its own demilitarization as a moral exemplar—toward a more balanced blend of poetic advocacy and concrete policy substance by the 2020s. While emotional intensity remains a signature element (averaging around 76), it has moderated slightly over time, increasingly paired with greater specificity: recent speeches (2021–2025) show heightened concreteness, with the country proposing detailed financial mechanisms, biodiversity targets, and disarmament initiatives. Self-accountability has fluctuated, peaking in 2017 and dipping in 2015 and 2023, suggesting occasional tension between framing Costa Rica as a model for global action and directing criticism toward other states' failures.
| Session | Multilateralism | Emotional intensity | Concreteness | Self-accountability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Very High | Very High | High | High |
| 2007 | Very High | High | High | High |
| 2008 | High | Very High | High | High |
| 2012 | Very High | High | High | High |
| 2014 | Very High | Very High | High | Medium |
| 2015 | Very High | Very High | High | Medium |
| 2016 | Very High | High | High | High |
| 2017 | Very High | Very High | High | High |
| 2018 | Very High | High | High | High |
| 2020 | Very High | High | High | Medium |
| 2021 | Very High | High | Very High | High |
| 2022 | High | High | High | High |
| 2023 | Very High | High | High | Medium |
| 2025 | Very High | High | High | High |
Treaty status
Full treaty record →Costa Rica has achieved universal ratification across all twenty-four tracked treaties, demonstrating comprehensive commitment to arms control, environmental protection, human rights, international justice, and trade governance. The country's treaty engagement is particularly robust in environmental treaties (ten ratifications), reflecting decades of emphasis on climate action, biodiversity, and hazardous waste management in its General Assembly speeches. It has also ratified all four major arms control instruments, including the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, aligning its legal commitments with its consistent rhetorical advocacy for disarmament and demilitarization. This perfect record underscores Costa Rica's positioning as a legalist state with no notable withdrawals or reservations in the tracked categories.
Arms control & security
- Arms Trade TreatyRatified
- Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban TreatyRatified
- Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their DestructionRatified
- Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear WeaponsRatified
Environment & climate
- Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their DisposalRatified
- Convention on Biological DiversityRatified
- Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone LayerRatified
- Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeRatified
- Minamata Convention on MercuryRatified
- Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone LayerRatified
- Paris AgreementRatified
- Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International TradeRatified
- Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic PollutantsRatified
- United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in AfricaRatified
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeRatified
Human rights
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or PunishmentRatified
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against WomenRatified
- Convention on the Rights of Persons with DisabilitiesRatified
- Convention on the Rights of the ChildRatified
- International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsRatified
International justice
- Rome Statute of the International Criminal CourtRatified
Trade & governance
- United Nations Convention against CorruptionRatified
- United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized CrimeRatified
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the SeaRatified
Voting record
Full voting record →Costa Rica votes affirmatively in the overwhelming majority of General Assembly resolutions (82.9% yes votes out of 5,694 recorded votes), with minimal dissent overall. Its notable dissents cluster almost entirely on Middle East resolutions and colonial questions from 1971 to 1994, where it voted against motions that drew 98–99% support, suggesting principled divergence on specific geopolitical issues rather than systematic opposition to consensus. The low abstention rate (8.4%) and high participation (92.9% voting or abstaining) reflect consistent engagement, while the sparse pattern of "no" votes (1.6%) indicates that Costa Rica aligns with the broader Assembly agenda and reserves outright opposition for rare, specific disputes.
Notable dissents from consensus
Question of American Samoa, Bahamas, Bermuda, Brithish Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cayman Islands , Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Guam, Montserrat, New Hebrides, Pitcairn, St.Helena, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and the United States Virgin Islands : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly
1971-12-20 · voted N · 99% voted yes
The situation in the Middle East : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly
1989-12-04 · voted N · 99% voted yes
The situation in the Middle East : Jerusalem : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly
1994-12-16 · voted N · 99% voted yes
The situation in the Middle East : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly
1985-12-16 · voted N · 99% voted yes
Population and refugees displaced since 1967 : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly
1976-11-23 · voted N · 98% voted yes
Human development
Full HDI record →Human Development Index: 0.833 (Very High), ranked #62 globally in 2023.
Combines life expectancy, education, and income into one comparable score, 0 to 1. Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2025 — deterministic figures, not AI-generated.
1990–2023