Forcing the people of the Chagos Islands to leave their homeland to make way for a military base and blocking their return are crimes against humanity, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The group said both the UK and US governments should provide full reparations to the Chagossian people, including the right to return to live in the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, after forcing them out in the 1960s and 1970s.
The report, titled 'That’s When The Nightmare Started: UK And US Forced Displacement Of The Chagossians And Ongoing Colonial Crimes', identified three crimes against humanity: forced displacement, prevention of return, and persecution on the grounds of race and ethnicity. HRW said the UK is committing an 'appalling colonial crime' by treating Chagossians as a people without rights.
More than 1,000 people were forced to leave the islands so that a US military base could be built on Diego Garcia, the largest island. The UK and US abandoned the expelled Chagossians in Mauritius or Seychelles, where they lived in poverty, triggering other rights abuses and discrimination. Some Chagossians, including children, died from economic hardship linked to the emotional devastation of being torn from their homeland.
Many Chagossians later moved to the UK after being granted citizenship, but described discrimination in housing and work. The Chagossians are predominantly descendants of enslaved people taken to the islands under French and then British rule. They are a distinct people with their own creole language, music and culture, and are considered indigenous under African and international human rights standards.
In November, the UK agreed to begin negotiations with Mauritius over the future of the Chagos Islands after international pressure. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the UK wanted to broker an agreement backed by international law. The UN’s highest court has ruled that the UK’s administration of the territory is unlawful.
