General Assembly: UK must return Chagos Islands

The UN General Assembly on May 22 passed a resolution demanding the United Kingdom return control of theĀ Chagos Islands to Mauritius within six months. There were 116 votes for the motion, with more than 50 abstentions, and just six votes againstā€”the UK, United States, Hungary, Israel, Australia and the Maldives. The non-binding resolution follows an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in February, finding that the UK is “under an obligation” to endĀ its administration of the islands “as rapidly as possible.” The UK retained control over the islands after Mauritius gained its independence from Britain in 1968, following a supposed compensation deal between the two states. Mauritius now rejects the deal as having been imposed unilaterally.

The archipelago is designated by the UK Foreign Office as the British Indian Ocean Territory.Ā The entire Chagossian population was forcibly removed from the territory between 1967 and 1973 to make way for a joint US-UK military base, which is still in place on the island of Diego Garcia. TheĀ Chagossians remainĀ in exile on the island ofĀ Mauritius today, where they constitute the “poorest of the poor.”Ā Diego Garcia has been used as a base forĀ US bombing runs in Afghanistan and Iraq. The facility was also reportedly used as a “black site”Ā by the CIA to interrogate terrorism suspects. In 2016, the lease for the base was extended until 2036. Before the UN vote, Mauritian Prime Minister Pravid Kumar Jug-Nauth told the General Assembly the forcible eviction of Chagossians was akin to a crime against humanity.Ā (UN News Centre, BBC News, International Forum on Globalization)

Photo: WILPF

  1. UK misses deadline to return Chagos Islands
    The UK has been called an illegal colonial occupier by Mauritius after it ignored a deadline to return control of an overseas territory to the island nation. The UN had given the UK six months to give up control of the Chagos Islandsā€”but that period has now passed. Mauritius says it was forced to trade the small archipelago in the Indian Ocean in 1965 forĀ independence. (BBC News, Nov. 22)