“We will fight on”, vow Chagos Islanders after law lords defeat
22 October 2008
Minority Rights Group International calls on the UK government to recognize the Chagos islanders fundamental right to go home- following a shock ruling from the UK's highest court, which upheld the existing ban on their return.
On 22 October, the Law Lords ruled narrowly by a three-two majority that the government had acted within its powers in 2004 when it refused to allow the exiled Chagossians to return to their Indian Ocean archipelago.
MRG's Head of Policy and Communications, Ishbel Matheson, said, "The government may have - finally - won a legal victory, but they have not won the political or moral case."
"The Chagossians' continued exile is an indelible blot on the reputation of this government. How can it lecture Zimbabwe or Sudan on land dispossessions, when it fights tooth and nail to deny the Chagos Islanders the right to their homeland?"
Historic injustices
The law lords' ruling is the latest in a decade-long legal battle which has seen the Chagossians fight - and win - three court cases, on the basis of the injustices suffered at the hands of the British authorities.
In the 1960s and 70s, 2000 islanders were expelled from the British overseas territory, settling eventually in Mauritius and the Seychelles, whilst the main Chagos island - Diego Garcia - was developed as a top-secret US military base.
Following an initial court victory in 2000, the then-foreign secretary Robin Cook chose not to appeal. But after September 11, the military base of Diego Garcia became more important - including as a transit point for the US's illegal ‘rendition' of terrorist suspects.
In 2004, the Foreign Office used the ancient powers of sovereign prerogative to overturn the earlier court ruling. Although in 2006 and 2007, judges found this use of the sovereign prerogative was illegal, the law lords upheld Foreign Office action.
After today's disappointing ruling, Chagos leader Olivier Bancoult vowed that the struggle would continue. "This is not the end," he told crowds of supporters at the House of Lords, "We will continue. What we are fighting is a just cause."
Find out more about the Chagos Islanders in our World Directory of Minority and Indigenous Peoples