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Summary: The violations highlighted are those issues raised with the State by more than one international mechanism. This is done with the intention of identifying children's rights which have been repeatedly violated, as well as gaps in the issues covered by NGOs in their alternative reports to the various human rights monitoring bodies. These violations are listed in no particular order.
Scroll to: ___________________________________________________________________ The Committee notes the legal review undertaken by the State party of the Education Act that aims at banning all forms of corporal punishment in schools. TheCommittee also notes with appreciation the State party’s efforts to combat domestic violence, including through the legal review of the Crimes Act and Family law Bill that, among others, aim to provide wider protection for child victims of domestic violence. However, the Committee expresses its concern about: (a) The prevalence of violence against children including corporal punishment used in all settings and especially in the home, where it remains lawful; Recalling its General Comment No. 8 (2006) on the right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment and its General Comment No. 13 (2011) on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence, the Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Prohibit corporal punishment in all settings including in the family, schools and in institutions for children, in this regard the State party is urged to accelerate the adoption of the Education Amendment Bill; UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women The Committee is concerned about the persistence of violence against women and the lack of information about its extent and prevalence. It is also concerned that the Crimes Act 1969 is outdated, does not recognise marital rape, and lacks a comprehensive legal framework to deal with all forms of violence against women, and that judicial recourse for victims, enforcement measures, victim services and protection are insufficient. It is concerned that protection orders may not always be available after normal working hours of judicial officers and that under current civil protections, they are not available to all victims of domestic violence, which has serious implications for the personal security of victims. The Committee expresses concern about the inadequacy of response of law enforcement personnel and the legal system to cases of violence against women. The Committee is also concerned about the persistence of discrimination against women as a root cause of such violence. The Committee commends the partial amendments introduced in the Crimes Act and notes the on-going legal review of the Crimes Act. However, it remains concerned that girls with disabilities and boys victims of sexual abuse are under-protected in the current legislation. The Committee is seriously concerned about the prevalence of sexual abuse at home and the lack of data on the number of teenage pregnancies that derive from incest or rape. The Committee is concerned about the societal silence surrounding child sexual abuse and that the victims do not receive adequate institutional response. It notes with concern that many cases involving child abuse are resolved by merely transferring the abused child from its natural environment to live with the extended family without reporting the case to the authorities. The Committee urges the State party to: (a) Accelerate the legal review undertaken on the Crimes Act 1969 so as to provide adequate and equal protection for child victims of sexual abuse; The Committee recommends that the State party ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. (Paragraph 57) UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women The Committee is concerned about the exploitation of prostitution in the Cook Islands and the lack of information about the links between the extent of prostitution and trafficking in women and girls and the country’s tourism industry. It is also concerned about the lack of enforcement of the legal framework to combat the exploitation of prostitution and the criminalisation of women and girls who are victims of such exploitation. The Committee is further concerned about the absence of efforts to prevent the exploitation of prostitution and address its root causes, and the lack of protection and services available to victims of exploitation. The Committee appreciates measures taken by the State party to increase student retention in senior secondary schools and to achieve equitable access to quality education. However, the Committee is concerned about the disparities in educational services between children in the Main Island and those in the Outer Islands, particularly with regards to early childhood development facilities and vocational training. The Committee notes with concern the lack of data on school drop-out and absenteeism rates in secondary schools including those related to pregnant teenagers. The committee expresses its concern that school curricula do not provide for mandatory human rights education. The Committee is also concerned at the inadequate number and value of scholarships offered for secondary school pupils that are not sufficient to cover living expenses. In light of the General Comment No. 1 on the aims of education (2001) The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Allocate adequate resources to achieve equity in educational services across all islands; UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women While noting the achievements in the field of education and the phasing out of older educational materials, the Committee is concerned that the principle of the equality of women and men has not yet been incorporated at all levels of the education system, and that gender-based stereotypes discriminatory of women may persist in curricula and teaching methods. It is also concerned that there is no system to monitor the causes and scale of school attrition, and that there are no programmes for students who leave school prematurely, including for pregnant girls and young mothers. The Committee notes the legal review of the Employment Relations Bill, which will introduce maternity provisions for all working mothers, including in the private sector, as well as the efforts, through the cooperation agreement with New Zealand, to learn about parenting responsibilities with a focus on the positive role of men and fathers. However, the Committee expresses its concern at the short maternity leave of six weeks and about the increasing rate of single parent families, mainly with the mother as the only breadwinner. The Committee is further concerned about the lack of day care facilities for children aged 0-2 years old that often obliges the biological parents to send their young children to livewith their grandparents, sometimes in a different island, until they reach the age of compulsory school attendance. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Continue its efforts at legal reform with regard to offering maternity leave for all working mothers, and consider extending the maternity leave to an internationally acceptable period in accordance with the Committee's General Comment no. 7 on Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood (2005); UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women While noting that a Draft Labour Bill (Employment Relations) is pending approval, to replace the Cook Islands Industrial and Labour Ordinance of 1964 and the Public Service Act of 1995-96, the Committee is concerned that the passage of the bill has been delayed in part due to resistance from the Chamber of Commerce to proposed maternity protections contained therein. It is concerned that, at present, there is no guaranteed maternity protection for women in the private sector, either in the form of paid maternity leave or preservation of employment during pregnancy or after birth. The Committee is also concerned about the lack of a law on sexual harassment, and the apparent lack of such provisions in part IV of the draft bill. The Committee is further concerned that the bill would limit the role of government in labour market matters, and that it may leave the achievement of women’s right to equality in the labour market to their capacity to individually or collectively bargain. The Committee expresses its concern about the high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among adolescents, including pregnant teenagers, which is attributed to unprotected sex. It is also deeply concerned that the rate of teenage pregnancies remains very high, which derives also from the lack of accessible adolescent’s reproductive health education and services. The Committee is concerned that access to contraceptives for adolescents below the age of 16 is illegal and that the Cook Islands Act 1915 prohibits abortion in case of incest or rape. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Intensify its efforts to educate children, adolescents and their families about sexually transmitted infections, as well as on negative consequences of early pregnancy; UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women The Committee is concerned with the inadequacy of preventative health care, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health. The Committee is also concerned that there may not be adequate attention paid to all areas of health care, including mental health and services for those women who may need specialised care, such as older women and disabled women and girls. The Committee is concerned that a woman wishing to undergo voluntary tubal ligation is required, under Ministry of Health policy, to receive her husband’s or male partner’s permission. The Committee expresses its concern at the lack of a definition of the child which complies with article 1 of the Convention. In particular the Committee is concerned that the minimum age for marriage remains 16 years and even younger if the consent of the parent or guardian is provided. The Committee urges the State party to define the child according to article 1 of the Convention for its next census. The Committee recommends that the State party raise the minimum age for marriage to 18 years. (Paragraphs 20 and 21) UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women The Committee is concerned that, according to the Marriage Act 1973, the legal minimum age of consent for marriage is 16 years, but can be younger with the consent of a parent or guardian. The Committee recommends that the State party: (b) Develop awareness-raising programs in close cooperation with civil society actors on parents' equal responsibilities in child rearing and on strengthening of the family. The Committee encourages the State party to consider affording women free legal aid in marriage-dissolution court cases aimed at securing maintenance benefit for children; (Paragraph 35) UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women The Committee is concerned about the inadequacy of the protection of a woman’s marital property in the event of the intestate death of her husband, and the lack of statutory provisions covering the division of property upon dissolution of de facto marriages. It is also concerned about discriminatory provisions in the Cook Islands Act 1915 governing child maintenance, and the failure of the Cook Islands to enforce child maintenance orders.
Violence against children
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Concluding Observations, February 2012)
(b) That cases of domestic violence against children do not receive the adequate treatment from the police; and
(c) That child victims of violence are not aware of reporting procedures and thus many such cases go unreported.
(b) Introduce public education, on the harmful effects of corporal punishment, with a view to changing the general attitude towards this practice, and promote positive, non-violent, participatory forms of child-rearing and education as an alternative to corporal punishment;
(c) Extend application of the existing ‘no drop’ policy in the State party, to child victims of domestic violence so that prosecution of such cases will proceed despite victims’ non-cooperation;
(d) Strengthen the Police Domestic Violence Unit, by providing adequate human, technical and financial resources to fulfil its role effectively, and strengthen child rights training for law enforcement personnel, in order to ensure that they can provide adequate support to child victims;
(e) Take all necessary measures to ensure that child victims of violence are aware of the reporting procedures so as to encourage them to report cases of domestic violence to the authorities; and
(f) Cooperate with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children and seek technical assistance, inter alia, from UNICEF and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). (Paragraphs 32 and 33)
Concluding Observations published: 10 August 2007
The Committee urges the Cook Islands to give priority attention to the design and implementation of a comprehensive strategy to address all forms of violence against women, in conformity with general recommendation 19, and to prevent such violence, punish offenders and provide services for victims. The Committee calls upon the Cook Islands to enact without delay the proposed Sexual Offences Bill and to amend as necessary other laws, such as the Crimes Act 1969, to encompass all forms of violence against women, including marital rape, and to fully enforce legislation and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted and punished. The Committee also draws attention to the SecretaryGeneral’s in-depth study on all forms of violence against women (A/61/122 and Add.1 and Add.1/Corr.1). It requests the Cook Islands to take steps to raise public awareness, including through media and education programmes, that all forms of violence against women, including sexual harassment, domestic violence and marital rape, are a form of discrimination under the Convention and unacceptable. The Committee calls upon the Cook Islands to ensure that women and girls who are victims of violence have access to immediate and effective means of redress and protection, and requests the Cook Islands to remove impediments women face in gaining access to justice, and provide legal aid to all victims of violence. The Committee recommends the implementation of training for the judiciary and public officials, in particular law enforcement personnel, and health-service providers, in order to ensure that they are sensitised to all forms of violence against women and can provide adequate support to victims. It further calls upon the Cook Islands to enhance its data- collection efforts and establish a monitoring and evaluation mechanism so as to regularly assess the impact and effectiveness of measures taken aimed at preventing and redressing violence against women. It invites the Cook Islands to seek international assistance in its efforts to put in place such a comprehensive response. (Paragraphs 24 and 25)
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Sexual exploitation and abuse of children
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Concluding Observations, February 2012)
(b) Develop awareness-raising programs and campaigns for the pubic including children, with a view to combating sociocultural attitudes that tolerate sexual abuse of children;
(c) Undertake in depth research on the nature, extent and root causes of child sexual abuse;
(d) Adopt measures to encourage victims and their families to report cases of child sexual abuse to the authorities and extend the ‘no-drop’ policy to cases involving sexual abuse of children to ensure that prosecution in such cases will proceed despite victims’ non–cooperation; and
(e) Investigate effectively cases of sexual abuse of children within the family, with a child-sensitive inquiry and judicial procedure, in order to ensure better protection of child victims, and ensure that perpetrators of sexual abuse of children are brought to justice and punished. (Paragraphs 52 and 53)
Concluding Observations published: 10 August 2007
The Committee calls upon the Cook Islands to pursue a holistic approach in addressing the exploitation of prostitution, and to provide women and girls with educational and economic alternatives, including economic empowerment programmes for women, including women from the Outer Islands. The Committee calls upon the Cook Islands to address the link between tourism and prostitution, including the demand for prostitution, and to undertake appropriate measures to discourage such demand. The Cook Islands should take steps to ensure the effective prosecution and punishment of those who exploit prostitution. The Committee urges the Cook Islands to consider protective and recovery measures for victims of exploitative prostitution and trafficking. The Committee recommends that the Cook Islands ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. (Paragraphs 26 and 27)
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Discrimination within, and barriers to, education
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Concluding Observations, February 2012)
(b) Provide sufficient early childhood development facilities including preschools;
(c) Take necessary steps, including through cooperation with local civil society actors, to increase relevant and more productive vocational training with particular attention to secondary school children in the Outer Islands;
(d) Collect data on school drop-out and consider introducing more motivating school curricula that ensure the children’s continuing education;
(e) Take effective measures to combat drop-out of pregnant teenagers and integrate them in schools;
(f) Take all necessary measures to include human rights education, especially on children’s rights, in school curricula;
(g) Revise standards of allocation and value of scholarships provided for secondary school pupils, with particular attention to applicants from the Outer Islands; and
(h) Seek technical assistance, among others, from UNICEF and UNESCO. (Paragraphs 50 and 51)
Concluding Observations published: 10 August 2007
The Committee encourages the Cook Islands to incorporate the principle of the equality of women and men in its education system, and calls upon it to monitor, and where appropriate modify or introduce, educational curricula and teaching methods that promote women’s human rights and address the structural and cultural causes of discrimination against women. It encourages the Cook Islands to put in place sensitisation training for teachers both pre- and in-service. It also calls upon the Cook Islands to monitor and identify the causes of attrition, and to take appropriate measures to retain girls, especially those from the Outer Islands, in school and to provide alternatives to formal education for those who have left school early. (Paragraphs 30 and 31)
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Inadequate maternity leave provision
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Concluding Observations, February 2012)
(b) Develop awareness-raising programs in close cooperation with civil society actors on parents' equal responsibilities in child rearing and on strengthening of the family. The Committee encourages the State party to consider affording women free legal aid in marriage-dissolution court cases aimed at securing maintenance benefit for children; and
(c) Establish, where necessary, day care facilities for children aged 0-2 years old, with a view to ensuring that children at this very young age are not separated from their biological parents. (Paragraphs 34 and 35)
Concluding Observations published: 10 August 2007
The Committee recommends that the Cook Islands ensure that the Draft Labour Bill (Employment Relations) fully complies with article 11 of the Convention, and that discrimination against women is prohibited in the private sector, in accordance with article 2 (e) of the Convention, and that such prohibition is effectively enforced. In the light of the Cook Islands’ withdrawal of its reservation to article 11 (2) (b), the Committee calls upon it to take all appropriate measures to ensure that maternity leave is available in all public and private sector employment, with pay or with comparable social benefits. The Committee also calls upon the Cook Islands to prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace and guarantee women’s rights to individual and collective bargaining. The Committee further encourages increasing attention for preschool programmes, including day-care centres, to assist working mothers. (Paragraphs 32 and 33)
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Inadequate sexual and reproductive health care and education
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Concluding Observations, February 2012)
(b) Strengthen its adolescent health programmes, by incorporating adolescent health education including adolescent reproductive health in school curricula;
(c) Develop a national policy that is aimed at combating child and early pregnancy and allocate sufficient resources for its implementation;
(d) Provide comprehensive health services, including accessible and confidential reproductive health services for adolescents, and in particular pregnant girls;
(e) Consider allowing access to contraceptives for adolescents under the age of 16; and
(f) Consider amending the Cook Islands Act 1915 by providing for abortion in cases of incest or rape, with a view notably to guaranteeing the best interests of pregnant girls and teenagers. (Paragraphs 46 and 47)
Concluding Observations published: 10 August 2007
The Committee recommends that the Cook Islands take into account its general recommendation 24 on article 12, on women and health, so as to effectively address the differential needs in the area of general health and specific health needs of women, including those with specialised needs. It calls upon the Cook Islands to ensure that all women’s health needs, including mental health and preventative care, are adequately addressed, and to enhance access to these services by women in the Outer Islands. The Committee calls upon the Cook Islands to abolish, without delay, the current Ministry of Health policy requiring women to obtain a husband or male partner’s permission to undergo voluntary tubal ligation, in order to eliminate discrimination against women in accordance with articles 12 and 16 (e) of the Convention. (Paragraphs 34 and 35)
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Early marriage
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Concluding Observations, February 2012)
Concluding Observations published: 10 August 2007
The Committee urges the Cook Islands to raise the minimum age of marriage for women to 18 years, in line with article 16 (2) of the Convention, the Committee’s general recommendation 21 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Paragraphs 38 and 39)
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Inadequate provisions on securing child maintenance benefits and orders
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Concluding Observations, February 2012)
Concluding Observations published: 10 August 2007
The Committee calls upon the Cook Islands to ensure that the law adequately protects a woman’s property rights in the event of the intestate death of her husband and to establish a system of equitable division of marital property upon dissolution of de facto marriages. It invites the Cook Islands to put in place adequate legislative measures, including the review and amendment of existing laws, to guarantee that women obtain child support. (Paragraphs 40 and 41)
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