government: self-governing parliamentary democracy
state of civil and political rights:
constitution: 4 August 1965
legal system: based on New Zealand law and English common law
legislative system: bicameral Parliament consisting of a Legislative Assembly (or lower house) and a House of Ariki (or upper house)
judicial system: High Court
religion: Cook Islands Christian Church 55.9%, Roman Catholic 16.8%, Seventh-Day Adventists 7.9%, Church of Latter Day Saints 3.8%, other Protestant 5.8%, other 4.2%, unspecified 2.6%, none 3%
death row:
year of last executions: 0-0-0
death sentences: 0
executions: 0
international treaties on human rights and the death penalty:Convention on the Rights of the Child
situation:
On November 8, 2007, the Cook Islands Crimes Amendment Bill was passed in the Parliament, transforming the country from abolitionist for ordinary crimes to abolitionist in all circumstances. In the Bill the word 'death' was amended to 'life imprisonment'.
