The Cook Islands want their own passport. New Zealand says no

New Zealand has rejected a proposal by the Cook Islands to introduce a separate passport for its citizens, allowing them to retain New Zealand citizenship.

The Cook Islands, a self-governing Pacific nation, are in “free association” with New Zealand, which is responsible for the first nation’s foreign affairs and defence.

Cook Islanders can also live, work and access health care in New Zealand.

Prime Minister Mark Brown has asked for Cook Islanders to have their own passports “to recognize our people”, but New Zealand has said this is not possible unless the Cook Islands become fully independent.

The documents, first published by local broadcaster 1News and seen by Reuters, reportedly showed that for months Brown had been pushing for a separate passport and citizenship for those in the Cook Islands, while at the same time hoping to maintain their relationship as a member country of New Zealand .

Almost 100,000 Cook Islanders live in New Zealand, while only about 15,000 live in the Cook Islands. Those who have lived in New Zealand continuously for at least one year can participate in or vote in New Zealand elections and referendums.

Reports say tensions between the two countries are escalating over the issue of separate citizenship, and leaders from both sides have held a series of talks in recent months.

“New Zealanders are free to hold dual passports, there are a number of New Zealanders who hold passports from other countries,” Brown told Radio New Zealand in November.

“It’s exactly the same thing we’re going to do,” he said.

However, some Cook Islanders have criticized their government for not consulting on the proposal.

Thomas Winn, a Cook Islander who works in Wellington, told local news outlet Cook Islands News: “The real question is what do the people of the Cook Islands want and have they been consulted on this critical decision? Or will it be a decision made by the few for the sake of the many?”

Other Cook Islanders told 1News they were worried the move would also affect access to services such as their right to health care in New Zealand.

But on Sunday, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters effectively shut down the conversation, announcing that a separate passport and citizenship were only available to fully independent and sovereign countries.

Any move to change the current relationship between the two countries should be put to a referendum, he added.

“Such a referendum would allow Cook Islanders to carefully consider whether they prefer the status quo with access to New Zealand citizenship and passports or full independence,” he said in a statement to the media.

“If independence from New Zealand is the goal of the Cook Islands government, then of course that’s a conversation we’re willing to have with them.”

According to 1News, Brown later responded to Peters’ statement by saying the Cook Islands “will not do anything that affects our important status (with New Zealand)”.

Another small Pacific island, Niue, also has a similar relationship with New Zealand – it is internally self-governing but relies on Wellington for defense and most foreign affairs.

Self-governing territories also exist in other parts of the world, including Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which are part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Puerto Rico, which is subordinate to the United States for defense and foreign affairs.