Expulsion of the Chagossians

The Chagos Archipelago was uninhabited when first visited by European explorers, and remained that way until the French established a small colony on the island of Diego Garcia, composed of 50–60 men and "a complement of slaves". The slaves came from what are now Mozambique and Madagascar via Mauritius. Thus, the original Chagossians were a mixture of the Bantu and Austronesian peoples. The French Government abolished slavery on 4 February 1794 (16 Pluviôse) but local administrations in Indian Ocean hindered its implementation. The French surrendered Mauritius and its dependencies (including the Chagos) to the UK in the 1814 Treaty of Paris. However, nothing precluded the transport of slaves within the colony, and so the ancestors of the Chagossians were routinely shipped from Mauritius to Rodrigues to the Chagos to the Seychelles, and elsewhere. In addition, from 1820 to 1840, the atoll of Diego Garcia in the Chagos became the staging post for slave ships trading between Sumatra, the Seychelles, and the French island of Bourbon (Réunion), adding a population of Malay slaves into the Chagos gene pool. and that meant that these contract workers often stayed for decades between the visits of the Magistrate, and there is little doubt that some remained for a lifetime. life continued for the Chagossians as before, with European managers and Ilois workers and their families. On the Chagos, this involved specific tasks and rewards, including housing, rations and rum, and a relatively distinct Creole society developed. Over the decades, Mauritian, Seychellois, Chinese, Somali, and Indian workers were employed on the island at various times in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, contributing to the Chagossian culture, as did plantation managers and administrators, visiting ships' crews and passengers, British and Indian garrison troops stationed on the island in World War II, and residents of Mauritius — to which individual Chagossians and their families traveled and spent lengthy periods of time. sold the plantations to the Seychelles company Chagos-Agalega Company, which then owned the entire Chagos Archipelago, except for six acres at the mouth of the Diego Garcia lagoon. However, beginning in 1962, the Chagos-Agalega Company began hiring Seychellois contract workers almost exclusively, along with a few from Mauritius, as many of the Ilois left the Chagos because of the change in management; by 1964, 80% of the population were Seychellois under 18-month or 2-year contracts. At this same time, the UK and U.S. began talks with the objective of establishing a military base in the Indian Ocean region. The base would need to be on British Territory, as the U.S. had no possessions in the region. The U.S. was deeply concerned with the stability of the host nation of any potential base, and sought an unpopulated territory, to avoid the U.N.'s decolonization requirements and the resulting political issues of sovereignty or anti-Western sentiment. The political posture of an independent Mauritius, from which the remote British islands of the central Indian Ocean were administered, was not clearly known, but was of a nature expected to work against the security of the base. In January 1965, the U.S. Embassy in London formally requested the detachment of the Chagos as well. This and other evidence at trial led the UK High Court of Justice Queen's Bench to decide in 2003 that the UK government ultimately decided to depopulate the entire Chagos to avoid scrutiny by the U.N.'s Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, known as the "Committee of 24". In 1966, the population was 924. This population was fully employed. Although it was common for local plantation managers to allow pensioners and the disabled to remain in the islands and continue to receive rations in exchange for light work, children after the age of 12 were required to work. In 1964, only 3 of a population of 963 were unemployed. Three of the islands were inhabited: Diego Garcia, Île du Coin in the Peros Banhos atoll, and Île Boddam in the Salomon Islands. In the latter half of the 20th century, there were thus three major strands to the population — Mauritian and Seychelles contract workers (including management), and the Ilois. There is no agreement as to the numbers of Ilois living in the BIOT prior to 1971. However, the UK and Mauritius agreed in 1972 that there were 426 Ilois families numbering 1,151 individuals who left the Chagos for Mauritius voluntarily or involuntarily between 1965 and 1973. In 1977, the Mauritian government independently listed a total of 557 families totaling 2,323 people — 1,068 adults and 1,255 children — a number that included families that had left voluntarily before the creation of the BIOT and never returned to the Chagos. The number reported by the Mauritian government in 1978 to have received compensation was 2,365, consisting of 1,081 adults and 1,284 minor children. The Mauritian Government's Ilois Trust Fund Board certified 1,579 individuals as Ilois in 1982. The entire population of the Chagos, including the Ilois, was removed to Mauritius and the Seychelles by 27 April 1973. ==Forced deportation==

signed by D. A. Greenhill, 1966, stating "Unfortunately along with the birds go some few Tarzans or Men Fridays." In early March 1967, the British Commissioner declared BIOT Ordinance Number Two. This unilateral proclamation, the Acquisition of Land for Public Purposes (Private Treaty) Ordinance, enabled the Commissioner to acquire any land he liked (for the UK government). On 3 April 1967, under the provisions of the order, the British government bought all the plantations of the Chagos archipelago for £660,000 from the Chagos Agalega Company. The plan was to deprive the Chagossians of an income and encourage them to leave the island voluntarily. In a memo from this period, Colonial Office head Denis Greenhill (later Lord Greenhill of Harrow) wrote to the British Delegation at the UN: Another internal Colonial Office memo read: Chagossian human rights activists charge that the number of Chagossian residents on Diego Garcia was deliberately under-counted in order to play down the scale of the proposed mass deportation. Three years before the depopulation plan was created, Sir Robert Scott, Governor of Mauritius, estimated the permanent population of Diego Garcia at 1,700. However, in a BIOT report made in June 1968, the British Government estimated that only 354 Chagossians were third-generation "belongers" on the islands. This number subsequently fell in further reports. Later in 1968, the British Government asked for help from the legal department of their own Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in creating a legal basis for deporting the Chagossians from the islands. The first paragraph of the FCO's reply read: The government is therefore often accused of deciding to clear all the islanders by denying they ever belonged on Diego Garcia in the first place and then removing them. This was to be done by issuing an ordinance that the island be cleared of all non-inhabitants. The legal obligation to announce the decision was fulfilled by publishing the notice in a small-circulation gazette not generally read outside of FCO staff. Starting in March 1969, Chagossians visiting Mauritius found that they were no longer allowed to board the steamer home. They were told their contracts to work on Diego Garcia had expired. This left them homeless, jobless and without means of support. It also prevented word from reaching the rest of the Diego Garcia population. Relatives who travelled to Mauritius to seek their missing family members also found themselves unable to return. Another action taken during the forced deportation was to kill off the area's dog population, including the residents' pets. As recorded by John Pilger: Marcel Moulinie, a coconut plantation manager on the island who worked with the BIOT, claimed the decision to kill the dogs was handed down near the end of the evacuations and were a response to the abundance of strays after their owners left, with there being over 800 stray dogs on the east side of Diego Garcia. He also claimed that this decision was not intended to frighten the natives, but he could "quite understand if these actions caused them to fear some form of violence". Removal of the last inhabitants In April 1971, John Rawling Todd told the Chagossians that they would be forced to leave. A memorandum states: By 15 October 1971, the Chagossians on Diego Garcia had all been removed to the Peros Banhos and Salomon plantations on ships chartered from Mauritius and the Seychelles. In November 1972 the plantation on Salomon atoll was evacuated, with the population allowed to choose to be taken either to the Seychelles or Mauritius. On 26 May 1973 the plantation on Peros Banhos atoll was closed and the last of the islanders sent to Seychelles or Mauritius, according to their choice. Those sent to the Seychelles received a severance pay equal to their remaining contract term. Those sent to Mauritius were to receive a cash settlement from the British Government distributed through the Mauritian Government. However, the Mauritian Government did not distribute this settlement until four years later, and the Chagossians on Mauritius were not compensated until 1977. ==International law==

While no appropriate venue was found to hear the case for many decades, the International Court of Justice offered an Advisory Opinion at the request of the UN General Assembly on 25 February 2019. Prior to the International Court of Justice's Advisory Opinion, the European Court of Human Rights rejected an Application for Trial in 2012 stating that no right of petition exists for residents of the British Indian Ocean Territory before that court. On 1 April 2010, the Chagos Marine Protected Area (MPA) was declared to cover the waters around the Chagos Archipelago. However, Mauritius objected, stating this was contrary to its legal rights, and on 18 March 2015, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that the Chagos Marine Protected Area was illegal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as Mauritius had legally binding rights to fish in the waters surrounding the Chagos Archipelago, to an eventual return of the Chagos Archipelago, and to the preservation of any minerals or oil discovered in or near the Chagos Archipelago prior to its return. On 23 June 2017, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted in favour of referring the territorial dispute between Mauritius and the UK to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in order to clarify the legal status of the Chagos Islands archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The motion was approved by a majority vote with 94 voting for and 15 against and was voted on by the UNGA in 2019. On 25 February 2019, the International Court of Justice delivered an advisory opinion on the questions: "(a) Was the process of decolonization of Mauritius lawfully completed when Mauritius was granted independence in 1968, following the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius and having regard to international law, including obligations reflected in General Assembly resolutions 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, 2066 (XX) of 16 December 1965, 2232 (XXI) of 20 December 1966 and 2357 (XXII) of 19 December 1967?; (b) What are the consequences under international law, including obligations reflected in the above-mentioned resolutions, arising from the continued administration by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland of the Chagos Archipelago, including with respect to the inability of Mauritius to implement a programme for the resettlement on the Chagos Archipelago of its nationals, in particular those of Chagossian origin?" The Court delivered its opinion that "the process of decolonization of Mauritius was not lawfully completed when that country acceded to independence" and that "the United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible." ==Compensation==

In 1972, the British Government allocated £650,000 for compensation to the 426 Ilois families displaced to Mauritius. This money was intended to be paid directly to the families, and was given to the Mauritian government for distribution. The Mauritian government, however, withheld the money until 1978. In response to litigation by islanders, the British Government contributed an additional £4 million, which was again turned over to the Mauritian Government, which distributed it in a series of disbursements between 1982 and 1987. ==Protests==

The Mauritian opposition party Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) began to question the validity under international law of the purchase of the Chagos and the removal of the Chagossians. In 1975, David Ottaway of The Washington Post wrote and published an article titled "Islanders Were Evicted for U.S. Base" which related the plight of the Chagossians in detail. This prompted two U.S. Congressional committees to look into the matter. They were told that the "entire subject of Diego Garcia is considered classified". In September 1975, The Sunday Times published an article titled "The Islanders that Britain Sold". That year, a Methodist preacher from Kent, George Champion, who changed his name to George Chagos, began a one-man picket of the FCO, with a placard reading simply: 'DIEGO GARCIA'. This continued until his death in 1982. In 1976, the government of the Seychelles took the British government to court. The Aldabra, Desroches, and Farquhar Islands were separated from the BIOT and returned to the Seychelles as it achieved independence in 1976. on Diego Garcia In 1978, at Bain Des Dames in Port Louis, six Chagossian women went on a hunger strike, and there were demonstrations in the streets (mainly organised by the MMM) over Diego Garcia. In 1979, a Mauritian Committee asked Mr. Vencatassen's lawyer to negotiate more compensation. In response to this, the British Government offered £4m to the surviving Chagossians on the express condition that Vencatassen withdraw his case and that all Chagossians sign a "full and final" document renouncing any right of return to the island. All but 12 of the 1,579 Chagossians eligible to receive compensation at the time signed the documents. ==Developments since 2000==

Legal developments In 2000 the British High Court granted the islanders the right to return to the Archipelago. However, they were not actually allowed to return, and in 2002 the islanders and their descendants, now numbering 4,500, returned to court claiming compensation, after what they said were two years of delays by the British Foreign Office. In December 2001, three Chagossians, Olivier Bancoult, Marie Therese Mein, and Marie Isabelle France-Charlot sued the US government for being expelled from the islands and transferred against their will to another location. The lawsuit accused the United States of "trespass, intentional infliction of emotional distress, forced relocation, racial discrimination, torture, and genocide." On 10 June 2004 the British government made two Orders in Council under the Royal Prerogative forever banning the islanders from returning home, to override the effect of the 2000 court decision. As of May 2010, some of the Chagossians were still making return plans to turn Diego Garcia into a sugarcane and fishing enterprise as soon as the defence agreement expired (which some thought would happen as early as 2016). A few dozen other Chagossians were still fighting to be housed in the UK. On 11 May 2006 the British High Court ruled that the 2004 Orders-in-Council were unlawful, and consequently that the Chagossians were entitled to return to the Chagos Archipelago. In Bancoult v. McNamara, an action in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against Robert McNamara, the former United States Secretary of Defense, was dismissed as a nonjusticiable political question. On 23 May 2007, the UK Government's appeal against the 2006 High Court ruling was dismissed, and they took the matter to the House of Lords. On 22 October 2008, the UK Government won on appeal, the House of Lords overturned the 2006 High Court ruling and upheld the two 2004 Orders-in-Council and with them the Government's ban on anyone returning. On 29 June 2016, this decision was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, again by a 3–2 majority. In 2005, 1,786 Chagossians made Application for a Trial of the issues with the European Court of Human Rights. The Application said that the British Government violated their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, specifically: Article 3 – The prohibition against degrading treatment; Article 6 – The right to a fair trial; Article 8 – The right to privacy in one's home; Article 13 – The right to obtain remedy before national courts, and; Protocol 1, Article 1 – The right to peaceful enjoyment of one's possessions. On 11 December 2012, the court rejected on the Application's request for a trial ruling that the B.I.O.T. did not come under the jurisdiction of the ECtHR, and that in any event, all claims had previously been raised and settled in the proper national, that is British, courts. in a calculated move in 2009 to prevent re-settlement of the BIOT by native Chagossians, the UK proposed that the BIOT become a "marine reserve" with the aim of preventing the former inhabitants from returning to their lands. The summary of the diplomatic cable is as follows: Internet petition On 5 March 2012, an international petition was launched on the now-defunct We the People section of the whitehouse.gov website in order to ask the White House in the United States to consider the Chagos case. The petition read as follows: On 4 April 2012, the sufficient number of 25,000 signatures was met to require a response from the Office of the President under its policy at that time. An undated response was posted on the White House petition web site by the United States Department of State, in the name of Michael Posner (Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor), Philip H. Gordon (Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs) and Andrew J. Shapiro (Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs). The non-committal response read as follows: 2016 ruling In November 2016, the United Kingdom restated it would not permit Chagossians to return to the Chagos Archipelago. 2017 UNGA vote On 23 June 2017, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted in favour of referring the territorial dispute between Mauritius and the UK to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in order to clarify the legal status of the Chagos Islands archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The motion was approved by a majority vote with 94 voting for and 15 against. On 25 February 2019 the ICJ ruled that the United Kingdom infringed on the right of self-determination of the Chagos Islanders and was obliged to cede its control of the islands. 2019 UNGA resolution On 22 May 2019, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution welcoming the 25 February 2019 ICJ advisory opinion on the legal consequences of separating the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965, demanding that the United Kingdom unconditionally withdraw its colonial administration from the area within six months. The resolution was passed by a recorded vote of 116 in favour, to 6 against (Australia, Hungary, Israel, Maldives, United Kingdom, United States), with 56 abstentions. As of January 2020, the UK had refused to abide by the ICJ's advisory opinion. 2024 treaty In October 2024, the UK announced it is giving up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal, which is still subject to finalising a treaty. The deal would also see the Mauritian government lease the current area occupied by the UK-US military base to the UK for an initial period of 99 years. The agreement may be renewed for an additional 40 years after the initial 99-year period, and for an additional period thereafter. The treaty allows the Chagos Islanders a limited right of return, stating that those born on Diego Garcia are not permitted to return but leaving it open for those from the other islands to do so. A Chagossian resettlement plan, supervised by international experts, will be discussed in June 2025. Chagossian activists submitted a legal submission to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in June 2025, challenging the legitimacy of the UK-Mauritius deal, arguing that it was negotiated without their consent and perpetuates historical injustices. Following the Chagos Archipelago handover agreement, the British government is also due to introduce legislation to implement the agreement, including amending the British Nationality Act 1981 to reflect that the British Indian Ocean Territory is no longer an overseas territory following Parliament's ratification of the treaty. In June 2025, two linked judicial review claims were filed in the Administrative Court challenging the government's failure to consult with the Chagossians before transferring sovereignty of their territory: R (Mandarin) v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (AC-2025-LON-002073), brought by Louis Michel Mandarin and his son Louis Misley Mandarin, and R (Pompe) v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (AC-2025-LON-001642), brought by Bertrice Pompe, a British national born on Diego Garcia. Both claims were heard together on 28 October 2025. On 10 March 2026, Mrs Justice Stacey DBE refused permission on all grounds, finding the challenge to be a re-run of arguments previously dismissed by the courts. The claimants intended to challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal. The BIOT administration issued removal orders on 18 February. On 19 February, Chief Justice of the British Indian Ocean Territory, James Lewis, granted an interim injunction preventing their deportation, noting that there was no evidence that they posed a "threat to national security". ==See also==