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COSTA RICA REACTS TO CHILD ABUSE, IMPORTED AND DOMESTIC.

Article Excerpt
A US-based school for troubled teenagers in Costa Rica was closed by youth authorities in May, but it continues to generate controversy as owners try to reopen the facility. Dundee Ranch Academy was closed following an investigation that found the school had violated the human rights of students, most of whom are from the US, in efforts to modify their behavior.

A report from the Defensoria de los Habitantes found the Patronato Nacional del Infancia (PANI), the government child- welfare agency, "permissive and tolerant" of Dundee, even though it had determined that students at the school lived in prisoner-like conditions and had been subjected to severe physical punishments. The report said that PANI had investigated the school months before the shutdown in May 2003, but did not take immediate measures to stop the abuses.

PANI officials later acknowledged that the agency had investigated in March and given the school a chance to make corrections. PANI president Rosalia Gil said that on that first occasion investigators had identified at least nine problems including physical and psychological mistreatment, overcrowding, and lack of operating permits from the Ministry of Public Education (MEP).

But Bruce Harris of Casa Alianza, the international child-advocacy organization, said that PANI had known about abusive conditions at the academy since October 2002 and had done nothing about the situation. He asked, "How many aggressions could have...

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