 PRESS RELEASE
PDF and Word versions Chagossians Support UK-Mauritius Agreement for the Chagos Islands but Insist on Right to Return to Diego Garcia, Involvement in Final Treaty Negotiations, and Full Respect for International Law MEDIA CONTACT: Louis Olivier Bancoult, President, Chagos Refugees Group, (+230) 5751-7506, [email protected] Port Louis, Mauritius—October 14, the group representing the largest number of exiled Chagossians publicly affirmed its support for the recent agreement of the governments of the United Kingdom and Mauritius on sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago—including the United States military base on Diego Garcia—while insisting on Chagossians’ right to return to Diego Garcia and Chagossians’ full involvement in negotiations to finalize the agreement. More than 300 Chagossians unanimously declared their deep concern that the agreement disregards the full human rights of Chagossians from Diego Garcia, where most trace their ancestry. “We firmly request that all native Chagossians from Diego Garcia and their heirs be granted the right to freely visit and live on Diego Garcia, as is their natural right, given that foreign workers currently have this privilege,” Chagossians said in an Oct. 13 letter to the British High Commissioner in Mauritius, Charlotte Pierre. The letter was sent by Olivier Bancoult, Chagos Refugees Group president, declaring the unanimous decision of Chagossians at the group’s Oct. 13 Special Annual General Meeting. “It is imperative that Chagossians be actively involved in every step of the negotiation process” as the UK and Mauritius finalize a treaty “to ensure that Chagossians’ rights and interests are fully safeguarded,” the letter continues. Representing the unified voice of Chagossians in Mauritius, the letter also emphasized the need to: § Expedite resettlement and promised UK financial support to ensure elderly Chagossians born in Chagos receive justice in their final years of life. § Provide a comprehensive support package for Chagossians born in Chagos and their descendants, including a lifetime pension for those born in Chagos. § Create a local governance structure prioritizing Chagossian self-determination to ensure Chagossians shape the future of Chagos, including protecting its environment, in collaboration with the Mauritian government. § Dialogue with Chagossians worldwide to ensure the alignment of Chagossians’ interests in implementing the Chagos agreement. The Chagossian declaration follows the UK and Mauritian governments’ Oct. 3 announcement recognizing Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos islands while permitting the UK to exercise sovereignty on Diego Garcia for at least 99 years, to include the continued operation of the major US military base, in exchange for UK financial and other support. The agreement, which must be formalized in a treaty, said Chagossians would be allowed to resettle on all their islands except for Diego Garcia. If enacted, this would continue more than half a century during which Chagossians have been barred from Diego Garcia following their expulsion by the US and UK governments, between 1968 and 1973, as part of the creation of the US base on Diego Garcia. Chagos Refugees Group President Olivier Bancoult expressed Chagossians’ commitment to “collaborating in pursuit of a just and equitable resolution for all Chagossians, one that fully respects all the obligations of international law.” The full text of the Chagos Refugees Group letter is here. MEDIA CONTACTS Louis Olivier Bancoult President, Chagos Refugees Group (+230) 5751-7506 [email protected] Sabrina Jean Chair, Chagos Refugees Group UK (+44) 7832-113931 [email protected]  Let Us Return USA!, the US support group for the exiled Chagossian people, wants to share some huge news that Chagossians are close to going home (at least to most of their islands)….
Watch Olivier Bancoult discuss Chagossians' historic victory here (in Morisiyen/Kreol + French).10/3/2024
 Chagossians have won a historic--if incomplete--victory. A new UK-Mauritius agreement finally secures many Chagossians' right to return to their homeland and a UK support fund. This is huge news allowing Chagossians to go back to their Peros Banhos and Salomon islands. Watch Olivier Bancoult discuss the historic victory here (in Morisiyen/Kreol and French).
Unfortunately (to say the least), the agreement excludes the right of return to Diego Garcia. Excluding Chagossians' right to return to Diego Garcia violates the 2019 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling requiring protection of Chagossians' full human rights, including their fundamental right to live in their homeland. Excluding Diego Garcia is also unnecessary: the base occupies ~1/3 of the island and Chagossians could easily live on east side of Diego Garcia. Chagossians could return to live on Diego Garcia with no impact on base operations. Those who so desire could commute to work on the base as at many US bases overseas. The UK and Mauritius should correct the omission of Diego Garcia from the right of return and protect Chagossians' full human rights as required by the ICJ 2019 ruling. This article nicely summarizes all that is sadly wrong with this new agreement. Media caution: 1) Chagossians are the best to speak on the significance of this announcement. 2) Please don't repeat the US + UK talking points saying that Diego Garcia is a critical base for protecting the US + UK and global peace + security. The base, located thousands of miles from the US + Britain, hasn't been defensive. It's been an offensive launchpad for catastrophic wars in Iraq, Afghanistan + elsewhere in the Middle East.  There's good news from the UK.
On July 4th, the prospects for the Chagossians finally returning home improved dramatically with the Labour Party’s election victory, returning Labour to power for the first time in 14 years. Although Labour leaders played key roles in the Chagossian exile, there’s real optimism that new Foreign Secretary David Lammy will make good on his stated support for the UK righting “a historic wrong” and allowing Chagossians “to return home” (as he wrote in the 2022 tweet above). Lammy is also the first UK Foreign Secretary who, like Chagossians, is the descendant of enslaved Africans. Chagossian leaders Olivier Bancoult and Sabrina Jean have already called on Lammy to work with Chagossians to allow them to return and “repair [the] injustice done.” In other good news, the Chagossians’ greatest supporter in Parliament over decades, Jeremy Corbyn, won re-election as an independent. What the US Government Must Do Given Labour’s professed support for the Chagossians, we must now pressure the Biden administration and the US military to support a return rather than being the impediment to justice that US officials have been since orchestrating the Chagossian exile six decades ago. This would be an easy way for Biden to show—not just say—he supports basic human rights and international law. Others Speaking Out for Chagossians Human Rights Watch will be pressing the UK and US governments to make good on past promises and allow the Chagossians to return; HRW is also supporting Chagossians’ demands for proper compensation. Retired UK government official David Snoxell has said, “Britain’s new government should resume Chagos Islands negotiations” with the government of Mauritius to allow resettlement.  Listen to All Things Considered's extremely moving interview with Chagossian leader Olivier Bancoult: Chagos refugees continue the decades-long fight for justice
 Read DeNeen Brown's major profile of the Chagossians and their struggle for justice in the US: "They were deported to build a U.S. naval base. Now they want reparations."
 Watch and listen to Olivier's interview: “Crime Against Humanity”: Exiled from Diego Garcia for U.S. Military Base, Residents Demand to Return
 At a critical moment in the Chagossian struggle, Chagos Refugees Group leaders Olivier Bancoult and Roger Alexis’ visited Washington, DC and New York City to build support in the US and push President Biden to do the right thing and finally support justice for Chagossians.
The trip generated more media coverage and more support in Congress than ever before. See here and below for links to NPR’s All Things Considered, the Washington Post, and Democracy Now. Allies in Congress appear interested in supporting a Congressional letter to the Biden administration, a hearing, and other public forms of support. This is a critical moment in the Chagossian struggle: the UK and Mauritian governments continue to negotiate over the future of the Chagos islands, including Chagossians’ right to return home. To now, the Biden administration has played an unhelpful role in these negotiations, appearing to support ongoing UK sovereignty in Chagos--in violation of the International Court of Justice and the UN General Assembly. Let Us Return USA's challenge is to help Chagossians convince the Biden administration to support Chagossians in finally returning home and receiving proper compensation for more than 50 years in exile. Media from the Trip: Please share widely! NPR: Chagos refugees continue the decades-long fight for justice Washington Post: They were deported to build a U.S. naval base. Now they want reparations. Democracy Now!: “Crime Against Humanity”: Exiled from Diego Garcia for U.S. Military Base, Residents Demand to Return Politico: Inching toward a Biden apology on Diego Garcia South African Broadcasting Corporation: Chagossians at the UN United Nations Foreign Correspondents Association: Press conference on Chagos Africa Now! [starts at 43:00 minutes]: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/wpfw-africanow/africanow-wednesday-3edGNL5VpxE/ Human Rights Watch Watch and share HRW's powerful video about Chagossians Read HRW’s report charging the US + UK with "crimes against humanity"
 Please read and share Olivier Bancoult's new article demanding the US and UK governments provide justice for the crimes against humanity committed against Chagossians! https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/chagos-islands-olivier-bancoult-uk-us-military-base-human-rights-watch/
 The British government has announced a dramatic policy change: it will begin negotiations with the government of Mauritius about Chagossians returning home and sovereignty over Diego Garcia and the Chagos islands.
Chagossians must be an equal partner in these negotiations. Period.  Human Rights Watch just published a major report showing that the US + UK governments committed CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY by forcibly displacing the Chagossian people during construction of the US military base on Diego Garcia + barring Chagossians from returning home for more than 1/2 a century.
The report, “That’s When the Nightmare Started," is an unprecedented condemnation of the US + UK by a major human rights organization. Human Rights Watch calls for full reparations for the Chagossians from the US + UK, including: 1) allowing #Chagossians to return home 2) resettlement assistance 3) proper compensation for 1/2 century of exile 4) official US + UK government apologies 5) public release of documents related to the Chagossians. Read the report: https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/02/15/thats-when-nightmare-started/uk-and-us-forced-displacement-chagossians-and Watch a 1-minute video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/a0Ah3k88yOc Watch a powerful 18-minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkFhy_ET4ik For more coverage and reactions see https://twitter.com/LetUsReturnUSA + https://www.facebook.com/uschagossupport  After the British government announced it would start negotiations with the Mauritian government over sovereignty in Chagos and Chagossians returning home, Chagossians rightly demanded they be part of these negotiations. Disturbingly the UK government said it would have “conversations” with Chagossians and then excluded them from the first round of talks. Chagossians and supporters including members of Parliament and Human Rights Watch have demanded that Chagossians be fully involved in all future discussions.
 Let Us Return USA!, the US support group for the exiled Chagossian people, wants to share some huge updates, including news that Chagossians may be close to going home….
In November the British government announced a dramatic policy change: it would begin negotiations with the government of Mauritius about Chagossians returning home and sovereignty over Diego Garcia and the Chagos islands. Chagossians rightly demanded they be part of these negotiations. Disturbingly the UK government said it would have “conversations” with Chagossians and then excluded them from the first round of talks. Chagossians and supporters, including members of Parliament and Human Rights Watch, have insisted that Chagossians be fully involved in all future talks. Human Rights Watch’s involvement (see video) is another major development, increasing pressure on the US and UK governments and support for Chagossians. HRW, one of the world’s leading human rights organizations, will release a major report about the Chagossians in the next few weeks. HRW has already demanded that any UK-Mauritius agreement include a commitment to the right of return and full reparations. The links underlined above provide more information about the new developments. For other major updates click the link below....  "Paradise Lost: How Building of US Base on Chagos Led to Heinous Crimes": https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/audio/2023/02/15/paradise-lost-how-building-us-base-chagos-led-heinous-crimes
Perhaps the biggest-ever article in the US press was just published in the major news magazine "The Atlantic," signalling growing momentum for the Chagossians finally winning the right to return home and justice. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/07/reclaiming-chagos-islands-british-colonization/638444/
Everyone should read and SHARE this powerful article about the US + UK governments' brutal exile of the Chagossian people. AND, sadly, the article overlooks one major detail: The leading role US officials played in orchestrating + PAYING for a crime in which UK officials were effectively hired thugs. This means the article's subtitle is inaccurate + should read: "Half a century ago, the U.S. AND British governmentS forcibly removed 2,000 people...." While both the UK + US governments bear responsibility for the crime, the US government was always the senior partner. Here's why... US officials: 1) Dreamed up the idea for a base on Diego Garcia in the late 1950s + 1960s; 2) Insisted on the removal of the Chagossians during secret 1964 negotiations in London; 3) Proposed the UK violate UN decolonization rules by creating a new colony (British Indian Ocean Territory) to secure base rights; 4) Secretly paid the UK government $14 million for deportating the Chagossians + basing rights via a secret 1966 agreement; 5) Ordered the final removal of Chagossians from Diego Garcia in 1971, with the highest ranking official in the US Navy's words, "Absolutely must go"; 6) Assisted with the killing of Chagossians' pet dogs (the exhaust noted in the article came from a US Navy jeep); 7) Covered up the crime by lying to Congress, the media, + the world about the Chagos islands being "uninhabited"; 8) Barred Chagossians from working on the Diego Garcia base; and 9) Supported UK government efforts to prevent Chagossians from returning to their homeland. Cullen Murphy is to be complemented for writing an article about a crime the US media has long ignored. Please share it widely but tell @TheAtlantic + others: Don't get it twisted, the mastermind behind the crime of exiling the Chagossians was + is the US government. I provide details + evidence for all of the above in my book, "Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia," which Murphy nicely mentions in the article. -David Vine |
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