Chagos Islands exiles win right to go home
Want to hear a story that is outright shameful, but finally has a good ending? Read on!
Hundreds of Indian Ocean islanders expelled by Britain to make way for a secret U.S. base are rejoicing after winning the right to go home after almost 40 years.
Exiled at the height of the Cold War, the 2,000 Chagossians were dumped hundreds of miles away on the shores of Mauritius and Seychelles to make way for the U.S. airbase on Diego Garcia.
For years they have lived as refugees and been treated as outcasts, but have never forgotten their homeland.
After a protracted legal battle pitting the islanders against the British government, the High Court in London earlier this month said special measures taken by the government to block their return were unlawful.
Islanders previously thought they had won the right to return after a High Court victory in 2000. The court ruled that a 1971 Immigration Ordinance banning people without permits from entering or remaining in the British colony was unlawful. But the Government used the Royal Prerogative to introduce a fresh order in 2004 which continued their exile.
In a damning verdict, two judges condemned as “repugnant” the British Government’s decision to “exile a whole population” from the Indian Ocean on the basis that it was necessary for “peace, order and good government”.
The families, who were forced out of their home in the mid-Sixties and early Seventies, overturned measures introduced by the British Government under the Royal Prerogative to prevent their return.
Richard Gifford, solicitor for the islanders, said: “The British Government has been defeated in its attempt to abolish the right of abode of the islanders after first deporting them in secret 30 years ago.”
Although the families cannot live on the main island of Diego Garcia, which is home to the airbase, lawyers argued that they should be allowed to return to other islands in the Chagos Archipelago.
From what I have been hearing, some of the Chagossians have recently been to their homeland for a visit, and have been encouraged. All of them want and plan to go home as soon as possible. Good luck and Godspeed to all of them!
June 12th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
I think its great that these islanders are finally allowed (hopefully) to return to the homeland of their fathers.
I wonder how many of these people have been born since they were forced off the island, and how many will actually claim the islands as home.
Its heartbreaking to see people displaced, especially from an island home-being an islander myself.
Great information that I hope to follow up on.
June 13th, 2006 at 11:39 pm
I have been keeping up on this story for some time, and the original number of people who were exiled was close to, if not right at 2,000. There are a little over 1,000 descendants. According to Olivier Bancoult, who was exiled along with his family back in 1968, and who has been a leader in the struggle for the right of return, all of the Chagossians, including the descendants, want to return home.