US and UK owe full reparations to Chagos Islanders, new report finds
Chagos Islands - A new report from Human Rights Watch demands that the United States and United Kingdom pay reparations to the people of the Chagos Islands after forcibly removing them from their homes to make way for a US military base.
Human Rights Watch's 106-page report, released on Wednesday, details decades of Western colonial abuse perpetrated against the people of the Chagos Islands.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the US and UK conspired to force the Indigenous Chagossians from their homes on the Chagos Archipelago, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean.
The removals took place so the US could build a military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia. The archipelago was considered part of the UK colony of Mauritius at the time.
The UK split the Chagos Islands from Mauritius and in 1965 established the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) – the last UK colony ever created and now its last colony in Africa. They lied to the United Nations, saying the BIOT did not have a permanent Indigenous population.
Many Chagossians descend from people enslaved on the African continent, taken in chains to the Chagos Islands via Madagascar, and forced to work on French and British coconut plantations.
After the formation of the BIOT, the Chagossians were loaded onto boats and abandoned in Mauritius or Seychelles. Today, many are still living in poverty in these regions and in the UK, unable to return to their homeland.
Chagossians denied compensation for crimes committed against them
The Chagossian people have never been properly compensated for their forced displacement, according the report.
The US and UK doled out large sums to construct the military facilities on Diego Garcia, and the UK received big discounts on US nuclear weapons in exchange for the base.
Britain provided some financial compensation to the Mauritian government after the Chagos Archipelago was stripped away. It even compensated the coconut plantation owners who were bought out to make way for the base.
Though Chagossians were eventually granted UK citizenship rights, most never saw any restitution for their losses.
After years of protests and legal battles, some Chagossians in Mauritius received small sums from the UK government, but many were required to sign away their right to return to Diego Garcia in exchange for the payments. As the terms were written in the English language and in legalese, many Chagossians did not understand what they were giving away when they accepted the money.
To this day, Chagossians have not been allowed to return to Diego Garcia. The US military continues to operate its base on the island.
Human Rights Watch demands full reparations for Chagossian people
After outlining decades of abuses against Chagossians, Human Rights Watch provides recommendations for action, including "full, unconditional, and effective reparations" from the US and UK governments.
This includes a comprehensive apology for the crimes committed from 1965 until today, full financial compensation for the Chagossian people, and a guarantee not to repeat the crimes.
The NGO further called on the US to publish all government orders and other materials related to Chagossian displacement in a free and publicly accessible database.
The US must also allow the Chagossian people to return to live on Diego Garcia and allow the Indigenous people of the island to work on the military base. The report did not go so far as to say that the US military must leave the island.
Congress is also urged to act by holding hearings on US culpability in human rights abuses against Chagossians and passing legislation to make such crimes against humanity punishable under US criminal law.
Cover photo: SHAUN CURRY / AFP