The Cook Islands, a commonwealth of New Zealand, passed a law Monday decriminalizing homosexual relations, which were previously punishable by up to five years in prison.
The Prime Minister, Mark Brown, has pointed out that the decision of the Parliament has meant a »historic day» for this archipelago, stressing that it is an initiative of his party, the Cook Islands Party, to »end discrimination against the LGBT community».
»Today we have decriminalized consensual sexual relations involving persons of legal age,» he announced on his profile on the social network Facebook. The measure, he stressed, is part of the party’s promises to defend the Constitution and Human Rights.
The decision has been celebrated by the local LGBTQI community. On behalf of Pride Cook Islands, we congratulate our prime minister and his government for doing the right thing: love is love,» said the president of this organization for the rights of the collective, Karla Eggelton, reports the Cook Islands News.
Located between New Zealand and Hawaii, this archipelago formed by fifteen islands and with a population of about 13,300 people, is one of the island territories of the South Pacific precursors in ending these laws inherited from the British colonial past, while others such as Samoa, Tonga, or Solomon Islands, still punish consensual homosexual relations.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
