Political status of the Cook Islands and Niue facts for kids

The political status of the Cook Islands and Niue is formally defined as being states in free association within the Realm of New Zealand, which is made up of the Cook Islands, Niue, New Zealand, and two of its territories: Tokelau and the Ross Dependency.

New Zealand are officially responsible for the defence and foreign affairs of the Cook Islands and Niue. However, these responsibilities confer New Zealand no rights of control and can only be exercised at the request of the Cook Islands and Niue. The Cook Islands and Niue have been recognised as sovereign states by some countries, and maintain diplomatic relations under their own name. Moreover, the Secretary General of the United Nations has determined that the admission of the CI and Niue into the World Health Assembly means that they have been accepted as states by the international community.

However, even though both the Cook Islands and Niue behave as sovereign states in international law, their constitutional statuses within the Realm of New Zealand (i.e., for matters of New Zealand domestic law) is different from that of a fully independent state, considering that all of Niue's and the Cook Islands' nationals are automatically New Zealand citizens, and both have New Zealand's head of state, Elizabeth II, as their own. On the basis of these arrangements, Prime Minister Helen Clark declared in 2001 that if the Cook Islands were to join the United Nations, the act would be interpreted by New Zealand as a declaration of independence, leading Cook Islanders to lose the right to New Zealand citizenship. This was reiterated by PM John Key in 2015. Some scholars have argued that this position by New Zealand places an effective limit on the ability of the Cook Islands to act as a sovereign entity, while others have argued that the participation of the Cook Islands in international organisations (such as the Pacific Islands Forum) shows that Cook Islands sovereignty is not limited by the free association arrangement.

Some states, based on the close relationship CI and Niue have with New Zealand, have declared that they do not consider them to be sovereign entities. These states are listed below.

History

Formerly dependencies of New Zealand, the Cook Islands became a state in free association with New Zealand on August 4, 1965; Niue became a state in free association on October 19, 1974, after a constitutional referendum. In 1992, the UN recognised both states' right to establish diplomatic relations with other countries. Since then, both the Cook Islands and Niue have been allowed to attend UN-sponsored conferences open to "all States" as well as sign and ratify UN treaties open to "non-member states".

New Zealand has formally allowed the Cook Islands to independently conduct its own foreign affairs since April 6, 2001. Niue was granted this power in 2007.

The Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs records that in 1988 "New Zealand stated that its future participation in international agreements would no longer extend to" Niue and the Cook Islands. The Cook Islands and Niue were granted membership of UNESCO by 1993 and of the World Health Organization by 1994. Also by 1994, the UN Secretariat had "recognized the full treaty-making capacity ... of Niue". As of 2016, the Cook Islands, Niue, and Kosovo are the only states that participate in UN specialised agencies, but which are not member or observer states of the UN itself.

Positions taken by states

As of 2016, the Cook Islands maintains diplomatic relations with 52 states, and Niue with 20 states.

States that recognise the Cook Islands or Niue as sovereign states

	State	Cook Islands recognised	Niue recognised
Recognising both
1	New Zealand	4 August 1965	19 October 1974
2	China	July 25, 1997	December 12, 2007
3	Cuba	September 2, 2002	September 5, 2014
4	Turkey	October 28, 2008	June 7, 2014
5	Japan	March 25, 2011	May 15, 2015
6	Kosovo	May 18, 2015	June 23, 2015
Recognising the Cook Islands
7	Germany	September 11, 2001	Not recognised
8	Belgium	August 10, 2004
9	Netherlands	August 17, 2011
10	South Korea	February 22, 2013
11	Micronesia	September 24, 2014
12	Brazil	August 21, 2015
13	France	2000
Recognising Niue
	Thailand	Not recognised	August 27, 2013
	Italy		September 21, 2015

States that recognise the Cook Islands and Niue as self-governing territories

State	Position	Relations with
		Cook Islands	Niue
Israel	On July 1, 1994, Israel and New Zealand signed an agreement establishing diplomatic relations. The document stated: In the cases of the association of New Zealand with the Cook Islands and Niue, the relevant constitution acts provide that, while these territories will be self-governing, 'Her Majesty the Queen in right of New Zealand' will retain responsibility for 'external affairs and defence'. ... It should also be noted, however, that there exist a number of instances of non-independent entities being permitted to participate in international organizations, though this almost only occurs in cases of associate statehood. In 2008, Israel established diplomatic relations with the Cook Islands and Niue.
United States	Cook Islands In 1980, the Cook Islands–United States Maritime Boundary Treaty was signed. The United States recognised the competence of the Cook Islands to negotiate a treaty on its own only after consulting the New Zealand government regarding the exact status of the Cook Islands. In response to the United States' request the New Zealand government confirmed " the competence of the Cook Islands Government to undertake the obligations and exercise the rights under the draft [bilateral] treaty". Consequently, the United States signed a bilateral treaty with the Cook Islands recognizing the latter's sovereignty over the islands subject to the said treaty and its treaty-making power. The Cook Islands and the United States have maintained consular relations since 1995. As of 2011, the Department of State includes the Cook Islands under the sovereignty of New Zealand in its list of "Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty". As of 2014, The World Factbook lists the Cook Islands as a "self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand". Niue In 1997, the United States and Niue signed a maritime boundary treaty that mentioned how "Prior to signing the treaty, the political status of Niue was addressed". As of 2011, the Department of State includes Niue under the sovereignty of New Zealand in its list of "Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty". As of 2014, The World Factbook lists Niue as a "self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand".

Cook Islands and Niue as Microstates

While their respective relationships with New Zealand, as well as their small size, make them rather unusual states, it has been argued that their status is far from unique. According to Dumienski (2014) both the Cook Islands and Niue can be seen as microstates, which are defined as: "modern protected states, i.e. sovereign states that have been able to unilaterally depute certain attributes of sovereignty to larger powers in exchange for benign protection of their political and economic viability against their geographic or demographic constraints." Both the Cook Islands and Niue, as well as such states as Liechtenstein, San Marino or Monaco fit into this definition of microstates.