Public Forces of Costa Rica education and culture. Costa Rica maintains Police Guard forces. The museum "Museo Nacional de Costa Rica" was placed in the "Cuartel Bellavista" as a symbol of commitment to culture. In 1986, President Oscar Arias Sánchez declared December 1 as the "Día de la Abolición del Ejército" (Military abolition day) with Law #8115. Unlike its neighbors, Costa Rica has not endured a civil war since 1948. Costa Rica maintains small forces capable of law enforcement, but has no permanent standing army. In 1996, the Ministry of Public Security established the "Fuerza Pública" or Public Force, a gendarmarie which reorganized and eliminated
Foreign relations of Costa Rica election as President of the Group of 77 in the United Nations in 1995. That term ended in 1997 with the South-South Conference held in San Jose. Costa Rica occupied a nonpermanent seat in the Security Council from 1997 to 1999 and exercised a leadership role in confronting crises in the Middle East and Africa, as well as in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It is currently a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. On Jan. 1 2008 Costa Rica started its third year term on the Security Council. Costa Rica strongly backed efforts by