Protecting Children is the Goal of Costa Rican Ambassador to the U.S.

NOVEMBER 3, 2011 – MUNI FIGUERES, COSTA RICA’S ambassador to the United States, spoke about child protection systems in the U.S., Mexico and Central America at an all-day conference at Georgetown Nov. 3.

The conference, “Kids in Between: Exploring a Unified Strategy for Child Protection in the Americas,” focuses on the need for a coordinated system to care for vulnerable children who fall through the cracks of child protection systems.

“A large population of children and young people is floating around in a legal limbo in Central America, Mexico and the United States as a result of these terrible movements of people across borders …,” Figueres said.

Figueres spoke to an audience of students, faculty and staff about the importance of this topic as well as her own history with the International Social Service (ISS), on whose board she served.

The university has strong alumni ties to Figueres’ country. Laura Chinchilla (C’89) is president of Costa Rica, and Anne Slaughter Andrew (C’77) is the United States’ ambassador to Costa Rica. So does Figueres – her daughter, Dyalá Jiménez Figueres, graduated from Georgetown’s Law Center in 1999.

Georgetown’s Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership, and ISS USA organized the event, which includes panels on international child protection law, social work and international child protection, and funding cross-border and regional projects.