Description

The Constitution was enacted through the Cook Islands Constitution Act 1964, and came into force on August 4, 1965. Article 64 recognizes fundamental human rights and freedoms in the Cook Islands without discrimination based on race, national origin, color, religion, opinion, belief, or sex. These rights include the right to life, liberty, and security; equality before the law; property ownership (with possible restrictions on the alienation of Native land); and freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, speech, expression, peaceful assembly, and association.