ABSTRACT
The written constitution of each country of the region, except Niue, describes and protects fundamental rights and freedoms of the people of the country. In the Constitutions of Cook Islands and Vanuatu, the provisions of the Constitution follow the model of the Canadian Bill of Rights and, therefore, describe both the rights and freedoms, and also the exceptions, in very general terms. In the Constitutions of Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, the provisions follow the style of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights made by members of the United Nations in 1948, and of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms made by members of the European Community in 1953, and, therefore, express both the rights and freedoms, and also the exceptions to them, in detailed terms. In Hinds v The Queen12 and Minister of Home Affairs v Fisher,13 the Privy Council held that fundamental rights provisions based on the Universal Declaration and the European Convention should be given a generous and flexible interpretation unless the words are too precise and exact to allow any flexibility. These principles have been expressly recognised and adopted by the Courts of Appeal of Cook Islands,14 Samoa,15 Solomon Islands16 and Tonga.17
