[2] Spread in population between the mainland capital, Rarotonga, and the Outer Islands mean inequality in terms of delivery of public services.
[3] The Cook Islands are a state in free association with New Zealand since 1965, and has the power to legislate its own laws and enter into international human rights instruments of its own accord.
Prior to this, New Zealand treaty action extended the application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its first Optional Protocol, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), to the Cook Islands.
This has been interpreted to mean that Cabinet has issued a directive for the Ombudsman to set up a Human Rights Division within its portfolio.
[10] There is at present one female Member of Parliament, Ngamau Munokoa, who was the first woman to hold the post of Cook Island's Deputy Prime Minister.
[11] A relevant issue is the presence of the House of Ariki, a parliamentary body of Cook Islands high chiefs that are not elected, but appointed by the King's Representative.
The group is supposed to only discuss those matters allocated to it by the democratically elected Parliament, and in reply it responds only with its opinions.
There exists a “no-drop” policy response to domestic violence arrests, meaning that police must proceed with the case notwithstanding the wishes of the victim.
[16] Progress has been made through the Non-Governmental Organisation Women's Counselling Centre, Te Punanga Tauturu Incorporated, which delivers educational awareness programmes across the Islands.