When someone mentions the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, images come to mind of a tourist brochure depicting smiling women and happy children playing on palm fringed, white sandy beaches with blue skies and bluer lagoons.

As in other Pacific Islands countries, behind these images there are sometimes hidden stories of broken families and abuse of women and children. Archaic legislation often provided little protection for such women, children and families and when services and support are available these can be difficult to access or are limited in their outreach.

Things are now about to change in the Cook Islands with the drafting of a new Family Law Bill that will help ensure  national commitment to gender equality and the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The Family Law Bill will see old laws either replaced or modernized. It covers a number of aspects that are universally required in civil family law to reflect good modern practice and to ensure CEDAW compliance, while also allowing for the capture of those good practice approaches, including non-discriminatory customary practices that are the most appropriate for the Cook Islands.

 

A modern CEDAW compliant Family Law Bill has the potential to improve the accessibility of family law to a wide range of parties and to provide an important contribution from the Cook Islands to good practices for other Pacific Island countries, and globally.

 

Ruth Pokura, from the Division of Women in the Cook Islands said that the draft family law bill was currently under review by the Cook Islands Law Reform Office.

She highlighted that “her Government had approached the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to develop a policy paper on reforming domestic legislation to align it with international human rights instruments”.

The request was made to the UNDP Pacific Centre following the publication of a report reviewing the compliance of Cook Islands domestic law with CEDAW. The report, which was jointly produced by UNIFEM Pacific and UNDP Pacific Centre was launched in Rarotonga, Cook Islands in 2008.

In preparing the new Family Law Bill there was some initial research and the production of a policy paper that drew on both Pacific and global experience. The paper was subsequently discussed in Raratonga in February this year where 22 local participants considered the issues and recommended the best approach for the Cook Islands.

Christine Forster, who helped prepare the policy paper said that the consultation provided an opportunity for participants to make a number of very progressive and CEDAW compliant recommendations that have been captured in the draft Bill.

“The consultation decided which areas should be covered in the new Family Law Bill and identified local context issues for consideration and discussion,” said Ms Forster. 

The consultations focused particular attention on marriage, divorce, the care of children, spousal and child support, domestic violence, property division upon relationship breakdown as well as Uipaanga Koputangata or Family Group Conferencing. The policy paper identifies; the current relevant law in the Cook Islands (or where there are gaps in the current laws) and the range of components that are essential to a comprehensive, good practice and CEDAW compliant civil Family Law Bill. For each component, the policy paper identifies a range of good practice approaches (based on international conventions to which the Cook Islands is a party including CEDAW, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), international declarations and commentary, relevant academic literature and government and non-government reports). Finally, the paper provides a range of good practice examples that illustrate how different countries have approached each particular component or issue in their respective law(s). Where possible examples from Oceania have been chosen (Pacific Island countries and territories, New Zealand and Australia) but the policy paper also provides international comparison by drawing on examples from around the world that represent aspects of good practice in various laws.

Recognizing the impact of domestic violence on families and the broader society, the draft Bill includes a comprehensive definition of domestic violence. Protection from domestic violence was extended to cover many contexts and a range of personal relationships where there are power imbalances. Civil law aspects of domestic violence protection are included in the draft Family Law Bill while it is proposed that domestic violence be separately incorporated into the criminal law.

When enacted and implemented, the Cook Islands Family Law Act has the potential to bring back genuine smiles to the faces of women, children and families.

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