Government defeats Chagos Islanders

The Chagos Islanders have lost their long battle to return to their Indian Ocean home when the law lords ruled by a majority of three to two in favour of the Foreign Office.The islanders were removed from Chagos to accommodate the US military base on Diego Garcia in the 1970s.

Lords Hoffmann, Carswell and Rodger found in favour of the Foreign Office in its appeal against earlier court rulings that the Chagossians had a right to return. Lords Bingham and Mance dissented from the majority decision.

In his judgment, Hoffmann said the Chagossians had been removed with "a callous disregard" for their interests, but that "The right of abode is a creature of the law. The law gives it and the law may take it away....The deed has been done, the wrong confessed, compensation agreed and paid." He noted that the government had said it was acting "in the interests of the defence of the realm, diplomatic relations with the US and the use of public funds in supporting any settlement on the islands".

But Bingham wrote: "It is not, I think, suggested that those whose homes are in former colonial territories may be treated in a way which would not be permissible in the case of citizens in this country... Despite highly imaginative letters written by American officials to strengthen the secretary of state's hand in this litigation, there was no reason to apprehend that the security situation had changed."

The Chagossians, lambasted the decision. "How can we be expected to live outside our birthplace when there are other people living there now?" said Chagossian leader Oliver Bancoult."The government has finally scored a narrow victory, but the victory has been achieved at a great price," said Richard Gifford, the solicitor who has acted for the Chagossians in the action, originally launched in 1998.

The Chagossians are now considering taking their case to the European court of human rights. They are also looking at other ways to influence the government, which has spent £5m fighting the action.

The Government has had a golden opportunity right the disgraceful actions of a previous government. Instead it has chosen to waste millions on defending the indefensible. I hope the Chagossians take this case to the ECHR and I hope the government is roundly defeated.

Previous posts
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

A blueprint for the Chagos Islanders

A resettlement plan for the Chagos islands will be symbolically presented in the House of Lords tomorrow to Olivier Bancoult, the Chagossians' leader in exile. It is hoped that the plan, which is backed by the Let Them Return campaign and written by John Howell, former director of the Overseas Development Institute, will be a persuasive case for a retreat by the government which continues to appeal against court rulings in the islanders’ favour.

The report suggests there are "no physical, economic or environmental reasons" why resettlement on the islands of Peros Banhos and Salomon should not happen. It suggests about 150 families, fewer than 1,000 people - about a quarter of those entitled to go back - would want to return. Eco-tourism and fish exports could provide jobs and income. The total cost to the UK of resettlement would be about £25m.

The residents of the Chagos archipelago were removed in 1971 to make way for a military base in Diego Garcia. They were dispatched to Mauritius and the Seychelles, where many have since died in poverty. They received limited compensation in 1982 in return for signing away their rights to return and in 2002 they were granted British citizenship.

Ten years ago the Chagossians, some of whom now live in England, began legal action for the right to return, and in 2000 the divisional court ruled their eviction illegal. The foreign secretary at the time, Robin Cook, agreed they should be allowed to return to all the islands except Diego Garcia. However, after the September 11 attacks in the US, Diego Garcia became an important base for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2004 the UK government issued orders in council which negated the court's ruling, but two years later the high court ruled in favour of the Chagossians. In May last year the government lost again at appeal. In November the Lords granted the government leave to appeal but ordered it to pay all legal costs, regardless of the decision. The case has been allotted five days from June 30, after which every legal avenue will have been exhausted.

Richard Gifford, lawyer for the Chagossians, said: "We have now had three decisions in our favour, involving a total of seven judges." It would need "quite a cataclysm to decide that all seven were wrong". He added: "Legally, it is the end of the road for the government."

An FCO spokesman confirmed that the government appeal would go ahead.

I’ve said this before and I will say it again. The treatment of the Chagos Islanders was a disgrace. It is an equal disgrace that the government chooses to fight when it has been beaten three times in the courts. The government should concede and try and salvage a little dignity in what has been a sordid episode in British history.

This time give up and let the Chagos Islanders go home

Thousands of Chagos Islanders. In a landmark legal judgment, the Court of Appeal ruled that the Chagos islanders could rebuild a life that they lost in the late 1960s.

The court overturned an order made by the Government in 2004 banning islanders from returning. About 2,000 islanders were forced to leave their homes on the tiny chain of 65 coral islands in the Indian Ocean in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for the US base at Diego Garcia after the British Government leased it to the United States in 1966.

In 2000 the islanders won a High Court ruling that their expulsion was unlawful but three years ago an order passed by the British Government banned them from returning. The Court of Appeal ruled that the order, which was made under the Royal Prerogative without approval by Parliament, was unlawful and an abuse of power.

The Foreign Office said it was considering an appeal to the House of Lords. A spokesman said: "We are disappointed that our leave to appeal today's decision has been declined. We now have one month to lodge an appeal with the House of Lords. "The Foreign Secretary will consider the judgment carefully and decide if an appeal to the House of Lords will be made. Until this, the matter remains sub judice."

The original expulsion was a cynical and needless move on behalf of the British government. It has now lost three court cases in the last seven years. It is time to let the islanders back to their homes (okay Diego Garcia may remain out of bounds). The Government should not waste more time and public money defending an ugly position.

Previous posts on this subject can be found below:

here , here, here, here, and here

President's threat over Chagos Islands

Sir Anerood Jugnauth, the President of Mauritius has stated that he would be prepared to quit the Commonwealth over the issue of the Chagos Islanders. who were expelled from their homes in the Chagos archipelago during the 1960s and 1970s to make way for the US military base on Diego Garcia. He is also prepared to take the UK to the International Court of Justice over the islanders' plight.

Jugnauth also said he believed Mauritius had also suffered injustice over the issue of the Chagos Islands: "We have always claimed Chagos from the British….We were deprived of part of our territory and this is against all the United Nations resolutions." The Chagos Islands were ceded to Britain in 1814. They were administered first as part of the Seychelles and then as part of Mauritius. The Islands were retained as the British Indian Ocean Territory when Mauritius was granted independence in 1968.

Jugnauth said he did not think leaving the Commonwealth, a 53-nation grouping of mainly former British colonies, would be too high a price to pay."I won't say a very high price," he said. "We are in the Commonwealth, we get some benefit out of it, but there's not much that we get."


Click here for previous posts on the Chagos Islanders

Victory in sight for the Chagos Islanders?

The Chagos Islanders, who were evicted over 30 years ago to make way for the Diego Garcia air and naval base, are hoping finally to win the right to go home through a court case that starts today. They had previously won two court decisions, in 2000 and 2006, declaring the evictions unlawful. This court case will see the government appealing against the 2006 decision.

Olivier Bancoult, chairman of the Chagos Refugees Group, said yesterday: "We believe this will be the final round. What we are asking for is our fundamental rights and dignity as human beings." He said that he was not worried that the government could take the case to the Lords if it lost this one.

With regard to American security concerns Mr Bancoult pointed out that the islanders were not asking to return to Diego Garcia, but other islands in the chain. He rejected American arguments that a return to those outlying islands could compromise the base's security. "Some of these islands are 200-300 miles from the base," Mr McKinnon said. "That's a wide security perimeter."


A Foreign Office spokesman said yesterday: "At present the matter remains sub judice. It remains inappropriate to comment on the grounds for the appeal, in view of the legal proceedings starting this week."

Click here , here and here for previious posts on this subject


Chagos Archipelago Chagossians