Between 1966 and 1973, the entire population of this Indian Ocean archipelago was arbitrarily deported from their homeland to allow the installation of a U.S. military base.
For over half a century, the Chagossian people have waged a struggle against colonial arbitrariness. On November 8, 1965, the Chagos Islands, under British sovereignty since 1810 following the cession of the archipelago by France, were separated from Mauritius. Thus, in 1968, Mauritius gained its independence, although part of its territory remained under British control. The island was then populated by around 2,000 inhabitants, most of them descendants of slaves from Madagascar and Mozambique and workers from India.
In 1966, because of its strategic position in the context of the Cold War, the United States decided to set up a military base on the island of Diego García – the largest Washington has abroad – for a total period of 70 years, until 2036. To this end, in agreement with the British government, all Chagossians, who had lived on these lands since the 18th century, without exception, were arbitrarily deported to Mauritius and the Seychelles between 1966 and 1973, with no possibility of return to this day. This is a flagrant violation of articles 9, 13 and 17 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. According to article 9, “no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile”. Article 13 states that “everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”. Article 17 states that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property”. Worse still, according to Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, “deportation or forcible transfer of population” constitutes a crime against humanity.
In confidential notes tinged with racism, in which the inhabitants of the archipelago are referred to as “Tarzans” and “Fridays”, London has clearly recognized the illegal nature of the Chagossians’ expulsion, expressing its desire to present the United Nations with “a fait accompli”. For this reason, the international community demands justice in the name of the inalienable right of peoples to self-determination, in accordance with the UN Charter. UN resolution 2066 of December 16, 1965 condemned the “dismemberment of the territory of Mauritius” and the “violation of its territorial integrity”. Resolution 2232 of December 20, 1965 stipulates that “any attempt to destroy partially or totally the national unitý and territorial integritý of colonial territories and to establish military bases and installations in these territories is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations”.
The Non-Aligned Movement, which brings together 120 nations, also demands the territory’s retrocession to Mauritius and the return of the Chagossians to their homeland. The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, comprising 79 countries, considers British authority over the Chagos “illegal” and calls for the complete decolonization of Africa. The 16-member Southern African Development Community calls for international law and the UN Charter to “prevail”, and for the archipelago to be decolonized.
London, supported for obvious reasons by the USA, stubbornly refuses to respect the elementary principles of public international law and the UN Charter. According to the British government, the military base is necessary “in the fight against the most complex and urgent challenges of the 21st century, such as terrorism, international crime, piracy or any other form of instability”. Yet the Chagossian people, now forced to reside in England, Mauritius or the Seychelles, are not calling for the immediate dismantling of the base, but for the exercise of their natural right to live on their land. The UK recognizes “that the way in which the Chagossians were moved out of the Chagos Archipelago and the way in which they have subsequently been treated is shameful and unjust”.
In June 2017, under Article 94 of its Charter, the UN adopted, by a majority of 94 votes to 15, a resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the dispute between Mauritius and the UK. The UN insisted on the consequences under international law “of maintaining the Chagos Archipelago under the administration of the United Kingdom, in particular with regard to the impossibility for Mauritius to carry out a resettlement program there for its nationals, in particular those of Chagossian origin”.
On February 25, 2019, in a landmark advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice emphasized that the “illicit detachment of the Chagos Archipelago” and its “incorporation into a new colony” had impeded the smooth progress of Mauritius’s decolonization process. It called on the United Kingdom “to end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as soon as possible”, urging all member states to contribute to “the completion of the decolonization of Mauritius”.
Following this decision, on May 22, 2019, the UN adopted resolution 73/295 by 116 votes to six, recognizing Mauritius’s sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago and demanding the unconditional withdrawal of British colonial administration within six months. According to the text, “as the detachment of the Chagos Archipelago was not based on the free and authentic expression of the will of the Mauritian people, the decolonization of Mauritius has not been validly completed”. It calls for “no hindrance or obstacle to (the) resettlement” of the Chagossians in their homeland, and rejects “any provision made by ‘the British Indian Ocean Territory’”. To this day, despite its obligations, the UK still refuses to abide by the rules of international law and respect UN resolutions.
*See Philippe Sands, The Last Colony, W&N, 2022.
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