Irish Examiner view: Another step in battle for justice in Indian Ocean 

Displaced Chagos Islanders fight for the right to inhabit their native soil

Protesters hold banners outside the World Court in The Hague, Netherlands in 2018, where judges listened to arguments in a case on whether Britain illegally maintains sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. A delegation from Mauritius was sailed on Tuesday, February. 8, 2022, to the Chagos Islands to press the country's claim for the strategically important Indian Ocean archipelago, which is also claimed by Britain and is home to an American military base. AP Photo/Mike Corder, File

At 10.30am local time yesterday, five Chagos Islanders stepped foot on their native soil for the first time in over half a century without permission from, and unaccompanied by, soldiers. It was a symbolically massive breakthrough for a people who had been forcibly removed from their homes on the remote Indian Ocean atoll by the British in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The British bought the Chagos Islands for £3m from Mauritius in 1965. It was a deal the Mauritians only acceded to in order to achieve their independence three years later. But, from 1967 to 1972, the new owners of the 65-island archipelago removed some 2,000 indigenous Chagossians from their homes in order to facilitate the building of a massive air force base on the island of Diego Garcia in a deal it had secretly concluded with the US.

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Those displaced peoples were shunted largely to Mauritius and Seychelles and thrust into stateless poverty. Some even ended up in Britain, in an enclave in Crawley, Sussex, but many have been unable to attain British citizenship because they were not born there. They were never allowed return home, apart from accompanied ‘heritage visits’ organised by the British government and supervised by the military.

In the decades since, Mauritius has successfully fought legal battles to regain sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, including at the UN General Assembly and International Court of Justice. The return yesterday of those five Chagossians to their native land was another step in the process.

This was not just a symbolic return, as the islanders were accompanied by a substantial mission from Mauritius, including its ambassador to the UN, who raised his country’s flag on the atoll of Peros Banhos in order to formally challenge Britain’s continued ownership of the islands and the fact it is not abiding by international law judgments. The Chagossians’ battle for justice continues.