The UK has been called an illegal colonial occupier by Mauritius’ Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth after it ignored the deadline to return control of the Chagos Islands
In May 2019, the the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of the island nation and gave the UK six months to hand over control of the Chagos Islands. The formal transition never took place and that period has now passed. The UK continues to assert that it does not recognise Mauritius’ claim to sovereignty over the archipelago and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (“FCO”) insists it has the right to hold onto the islands – one of which, Diego Garcia, is home to a US military airbase while Mauritius says it was forced to trade the archipelago in the Indian Ocean in 1965 in exchange for its independence.
At the time of the UN resolution, the FCO said that while the UK did not recognise Mauritius’ claim to sovereignty, it would abide by an earlier commitment to hand over control of the islands to Mauritius when they were no longer needed for purposes of defence.
A troubled history
Britain acquired the Chagos Archipelago for £3m and created the British Indian Ocean Territory, but the UN ruled by a vote of 116 states to six that the decolonisation of Mauritius “was not conducted in a manner consistent with the right to self-determination” and therefore the “continued administration… constitutes a wrongful act”. This resolution followed a decision of the UN’s high court which advised the UK to leave the islands “as rapidly as possible”.
The deadline is not binding and Britain continues to act without impunity as any sanctions would largely be institutional.
In 2002, the British Overseas Territories (BOTs) Act granted British citizenship to resettled Chagossians born between 1969 and 1982.
