British Indian Ocean Territory | |
---|---|
Motto: | |
Anthem: "God Save the King" | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Capital and settlement | Administered from London Local government from Camp Thunder Cove 7°18′S72°24′E / 7.300°S 72.400°E |
Official languages | English |
Ethnic groups (2001) |
|
Government | Directly administered dependency under a constitutional monarchy |
• Monarch | Charles III |
Paul Candler | |
• Deputy Commissioner | Becky Richards |
• Administrator | Balraj Dhanda |
Government of the United Kingdom | |
• Minister | David Rutley |
Area | |
• Total | 54,000 km2 (21,000 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 99.89 |
• Land | 60 km2 (23 sq mi) |
Population | |
• Non-permanent 2018 estimate | c. 3,000 military personnel and contractors |
• Permanent | 0 |
• Density | 50.0/km2 (129.5/sq mi) |
Currency |
|
Time zone | UTC+06:00 |
Mains electricity | 230 Volt, 50 Hertz |
Driving side | right |
Calling code | +246 |
UK postcode | BBND 1ZZ |
ISO 3166 code | IO |
Internet TLD | .io |
Website | BIOT.gov.io |
Disputed with Mauritius |
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 individual islands, many very small, amounting to a total land area of 60 square kilometres (23 square miles). [2] The largest and most southerly island is Diego Garcia, 27 square kilometres (10 square miles), the site of a Joint Military Facility of the United Kingdom and the United States. [5] Official administration is remote from London, [6] [7] though the local capital is often regarded as being on Diego Garcia. [8]
The only inhabitants are British and United States military personnel, and associated contractors, who collectively number around 3,000 (2018 figures). [2] The forced removal of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago occurred between 1968 and 1973. The Chagossians, then numbering about 2,000 people, were expelled by the UK government to Mauritius and Seychelles, even from the outlying islands far away from the military base on Diego Garcia. Today, the exiled Chagossians are still trying to return, but the UK government has repeatedly denied them the right of return despite calls from numerous human rights organizations to let them return. [9] [10] The islands are off-limits to Chagossians, tourists, and the media.
Since the 1980s, the Government of Mauritius has sought to regain control over the Chagos Archipelago, which was separated from the then Crown Colony of Mauritius by the UK in 1965 to form the British Indian Ocean Territory. A February 2019 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice called for the islands to be given to Mauritius. Since this, the United Nations General Assembly and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea have reached similar decisions. On 3 November 2022, it was announced that the UK and Mauritius had decided to begin negotiations on sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory, taking into account the international legal proceedings. [11]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(November 2020) |
Maldivian mariners knew the Chagos Islands well. [12] In Maldivian legends, they are known as Fōlhavahi or Hollhavai (the latter name in the closer Southern Maldives). According to Southern Maldivian oral tradition, traders and fishermen were occasionally lost at sea and got stranded on one of the islands of the Chagos. Eventually they were rescued and brought back home. However, these islands were judged to be too far away from the seat of the Maldivian crown to be settled permanently by them. Thus, for many centuries the Chagos were ignored by their northern neighbours.
The islands of Chagos Archipelago were charted by Vasco da Gama in the early 16th century, and then claimed in the 18th century by France as a possession of Mauritius. They were first settled in the 18th century by African slaves and Indian contractors brought by Franco-Mauritians to found coconut plantations. [13] In 1810, Mauritius was captured by the United Kingdom, and France subsequently ceded the territory in the Treaty of Paris in 1814.
In 1965, the United Kingdom split the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius and the islands of Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches (Des Roches) from the Seychelles to form the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). The purpose was to allow the construction of military facilities for the mutual benefit of the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The islands were formally established as an overseas territory of the United Kingdom on 8 November 1965. [14]
A few weeks after the decision to detach the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 2066 on 16 December 1965, which stated that this detachment of part of the colonial territory of Mauritius was against customary international law as recorded earlier in the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples of 14 December 1960. This stated that "Any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations". [15] [16] Largely because of the detachment of the islands, the International Court of Justice determined in 2019 that the decolonisation of Mauritius was still not lawfully completed. [17]
Mauritius became an independent Commonwealth realm in March 1968, and subsequently became a republic, also within the Commonwealth, in March 1992.
On 23 June 1976, Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches were returned to the Seychelles which became independent as a republic on 29 June 1976; the islands now form part of the Outer Islands district of the Seychelles. Subsequently, the territory has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the Chagos Archipelago.
In 1966, the UK Government purchased the privately owned copra plantations and closed them. Over the next five years, the British authorities removed the entire population of about 2,000 people, known as Chagossians (or Ilois), from Diego Garcia and two other Chagos atolls, Peros Banhos and Salomon Islands, to Mauritius. [18] In 1971, the United Kingdom and the United States signed a treaty, leasing the island of Diego Garcia to the US military for the purposes of building a large air and naval base on the island. The deal was important to the UK Government, as the United States granted it a substantial discount on the purchase of Polaris nuclear missiles in return for the use of the islands as a base. [19] The strategic location of the island was also significant at the centre of the Indian Ocean, and to counter any Soviet threat in the region.
During the 1980s,[ year needed ] Mauritius asserted a claim to sovereignty for the territory, citing the 1965 separation as illegal under international law, despite their apparent agreement at the time. The UK does not recognise Mauritius' claim, but has agreed to cede the territory to Mauritius when it is no longer required for defence purposes. [20] The Seychelles also made a sovereignty claim on the islands. [2] [ when? ]
The islanders, who now mainly reside in Mauritius and Seychelles, have continually asserted their right to return to Diego Garcia, winning important legal victories in the High Court of England and Wales in 2000, 2006, and 2007. However, in the High Court and Court of Appeal in 2003 and 2004, the islanders' application for further compensation on top of the £14.5 million value package of compensation they had already received was dismissed by the court. [21]
On 11 May 2006, the High Court ruled that a 2004 Order in Council preventing the Chagossians' resettlement of the islands was unlawful, and consequently that the Chagossians were entitled to return to the outer islands of the Chagos Archipelago. [22] On 23 May 2007, this was confirmed by the Court of Appeal. [23] In a visit sponsored by the UK Government, the islanders visited Diego Garcia and other islands on 3 April 2006 for humanitarian purposes, including the tending of the graves of their ancestors. [24] On 22 October 2008, the UK Government won an appeal to the House of Lords regarding the royal prerogative used to continue excluding the Chagossians from their homeland. [25] [26]
The UK Government established a marine reserve in April 2010, to mixed reactions from Chagossians. While the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office claimed that it was an environmental move as well as a necessary move to improve the coral populations off east Africa, and therefore sub-Saharan marine supplies, some Chagossians claimed that the reserve would prevent any resettlement due to the inability to fish in protected areas. The Chagossian UK-based Diego Garcian Society stated that it welcomed the marine reserve, noting that it was in the interest of Chagossians to have the area protected while they were exiled and that it could be renegotiated upon resettlement. The Foreign Office claimed the reserve was made "without prejudice to the outcome of proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights". [27] (That court's 2012 decision was not in favour of the Islanders anyway.) [28]
Work on the military base commenced in 1971, with a large airbase with several long range runways constructed, as well as a harbour suitable for large naval vessels. Although classed as a joint UK/US base, in practice it is primarily staffed by the US military, although the UK maintains a garrison at all times, and Royal Air Force (RAF) long-range patrol aircraft are deployed there. The United States Air Force (USAF) used the base during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2001 War in Afghanistan, as well as the 2003 Iraq War.
In 1990, the first BIOT flag was unfurled. This flag, which also contains the Union Jack, has depictions of the Indian Ocean, where the islands are located, in the form of white and blue wavy lines and also a palm tree rising above the British crown. [29] The US-UK arrangement which established the territory for defence purposes initially was in place from 1966 to 2016, and has subsequently been renewed to continue until 2036. The announcement was accompanied by a pledge of £40 million in compensation to former residents. [30]
On 22 May 2019, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution, affirming that "the Chagos Archipelago forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius", citing the February 2019 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the separation of the archipelago from Mauritius. [31] In its advisory opinion, the Court concluded that "the process of decolonisation of Mauritius was not lawfully completed when that country acceded to independence", and that "the United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible". [32] The motion was approved by a majority vote with 116 member states voting for and 6 against. [31] On 28 January 2021, the United Nation's International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled, in a dispute between Mauritius and Maldives on their maritime boundary, that the United Kingdom has no sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, and that Mauritius is sovereign there. The United Kingdom disputes and does not recognise the tribunal's decision. [33] [34]
The Universal Postal Union (UPU), which has jurisdiction over international mail among treaty signatory states, voted in 2021 to ban the use of British postage stamps on mail to and from BIOT, instead requiring Mauritian stamps to be used. [35]
On 3 November 2022, the British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced that the UK and Mauritius had decided to begin negotiations on sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory, taking into account international legal proceedings. Both states had agreed to ensure the continued operation of the joint UK/US military base on Diego Garcia. [11] [36] The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has argued this change of approach is in part due to a strategic shift in US and UK foreign policy towards Asia in response to China growing power and influence, as disputes with former colonies encourage their deepening relationship with China. [37]
In February 2022, exiled islanders made their first unsupervised visit to an island in the Chagos Archipelago. [38] The Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations, Jagdish Koonjul, raised the Mauritian flag on Peros Banhos. [39] [40] The main purpose of the fifteen-day Mauritian expedition is to survey the unclaimed Blenheim Reef, to discover for a forthcoming International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea hearing if it is exposed at high tide so is claimable. [41] [42] The chartered Bleu De Nîmes was shadowed by a British fisheries protection vessel. [43]
As a territory of the United Kingdom, the head of state is King Charles III. There is no Governor appointed to represent the King in the territory, as there are no permanent inhabitants (as is also the case in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the British Antarctic Territory). The territory is one of eight dependencies in the Indian Ocean, alongside the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Heard Island and McDonald Islands, all Australian possessions; the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, with the French Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean and its dependencies of Tromelin and the Glorioso Islands; along with French Mayotte and Réunion.
The head of government is the Commissioner, currently Paul Candler, who is also Director of Overseas Territories in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Commissioner of the British Antarctic Territory; the Deputy Commissioner is Stephen Hilton, and the Administrator is Kit Pyman, and all senior officials reside in the United Kingdom. The Commissioner's Representative in the territory is the officer commanding the detachment of British forces. [44]
The laws of the territory are based on the constitution, currently set out in the British Indian Ocean Territory (Constitution) Order 2004, which gives the Commissioner power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the territory. [45] [44] [46] If the Commissioner has not made a law on a particular topic then, in most circumstances, the laws that apply in the territory are the same as those that apply in England and Wales under the terms of the Courts Ordinance 1983. [47] There is no legislature (and no elections) as there are no permanent inhabitants, although a small legal system has been established for the jurisdiction. As almost all residents of the BIOT are members of the United States military, in practice, crimes are more commonly charged under United States military law.
Applicable treaties between the United Kingdom and the United States govern the use of the military base. The first exchange of notes, signed on 30 December 1966, constituted an agreement concerning the availability for defence purposes of the British Indian Ocean Territory. [48] This was followed by agreements on the construction of a communications facility (1972), naval support facility (1976), construction contracts [ permanent dead link ] (1987), and a monitoring facility (1999). The United States is reportedly required to ask permission[ citation needed ] of the United Kingdom to use the base for offensive military action.
Naval Party 1002 (NP 1002) is directly present in the territory, and is composed of both Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel. NP 1002 is responsible for civil administration and enforcement. Its members are tasked with policing and carrying out customs duties. Royal Marines in the territory also reportedly form a security detachment. [49]
Prior to 2017, the BIOT patrol vessel, MV Pacific Marlin, was based in Diego Garcia. It was operated by the Swire Pacific Offshore Group. The Pacific Marlin patrolled the marine reserve all year, and since the marine reserve was designated in April 2010, the number of apprehensions of illegal vessels within the area has increased. The ship was built in 1978 as an ocean-going tug. It is 57.7 metres (189 feet 4 inches) long, with a draught of 3.8 metres (12 feet 6 inches), and gross tonnage of 1,200 tons. It has a maximum speed of 12.5 knots (23.2 kilometres per hour ; 14.4 miles per hour ) with an economic speed of 11 knots (20 kilometres per hour; 13 miles per hour), permitting a range of about 18,000 nautical miles (33,000 kilometres; 21,000 miles) and fuel endurance of 68 days. It was the oldest vessel in the Swire fleet. [50] Pacific Marlin reportedly spent about 54% of her taskings on fishery patrol duties, and a further 19% on military patrol duties. [51]
In 2016, a new contract was signed with Scottish-based North Star Shipping for the use of the vessel MV Grampian Frontier. She is a 70 metres (230 feet) vessel carrying up to 24 personnel, and fulfils both the patrol and research role. [51] The vessel reportedly operates in conjunction with personnel from NP 1002 on both fisheries and military enforcement tasks / exercises, and also carries scientists / researchers involved in a range of research work, particularly conservation. [52] In 2022, Grampian Frontier tracked a Mauritian-charted vessel temporarily bringing Chagossian exiles to Blenheim Reef in the archipelego. [53]
The Royal Navy also maintains two offshore patrol vessels in the Indo-Pacific region, HMS Tamar and HMS Spey. Either may be periodically employed for sovereignty protection and other duties in BIOT waters. [54] [55] HMS Tamar paid a rare visit to the islands in February/March 2023 conducting fisheries protection and other missions. [56]
The territory is an archipelago of 55 islands, [44] the largest being Diego Garcia, the only inhabited island, which accounts for almost half of the territory's total land area (60 square kilometres (23 square miles)). The terrain is flat and low, with most areas not exceeding two metres (6 ft 7 in) above sea level. In 2010, 545,000 square kilometres (210,000 square miles) of ocean around the islands was declared a marine reserve. [27]
The British Indian Ocean Territory (Constitution) Order 2004 defines the territory as comprising the following islands or groups of islands:
As indicated above, the territory also included Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches between 1965 and 1976; the latter group of islands is located north of Madagascar and were annexed from and returned to the Seychelles.
The climate is tropical marine; hot, humid, and moderated by trade winds. [57]
In terms of transportation on Diego Garcia, the island has short stretches of paved road between the port and airfield, and on its streets; transport is mostly by bicycle and on foot. The island had many wagonways, which were donkey-hauled narrow gauge railways for the transport of coconut wagons. These are no longer in use and have deteriorated. [58]
Diego Garcia's military base is home to the territory's only airport. At 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) long, the runway is capable of supporting heavy US Air Force bombers such as the B-52, and would have been able to support the Space Shuttle in the event of a mission abort. [59] It also has a major naval seaport, [60] and there is also a marina bus service along the main road of the island. [61]
Yacht crews seeking safe passage across the Indian Ocean may apply for a mooring permit for the uninhabited Outer Islands (beyond Diego Garcia), [62] but must not approach within 3 nautical miles (5.6 kilometres; 3.5 miles), land on, or anchor at islands designated as Strict Nature Reserves, or the nature reserve within the Peros Banhos atoll. Unauthorised vessels or persons are not permitted access to Diego Garcia, and no unauthorised vessel is permitted to approach within three nautical miles of the island. [63]
On 1 April 2010, the Chagos Marine Protected Area (MPA) was declared to cover the waters around the Chagos Archipelago. However, Mauritius objected, stating this was contrary to its legal rights, and on 18 March 2015, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that the MPA was illegal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as Mauritius had legally binding rights to fish in the waters surrounding the archipelago, to an eventual return of the archipelago, and to the preservation of any minerals or oil discovered in or near the archipelago prior to its return. [64] [65]
The MPA's declaration doubled the total area of environmental no-take zones worldwide. The benefits of protecting this area are described as follows:
The area had already been declared an Environmental (Preservation and Protection) Zone, but since the establishment of the MPA, fishing has no longer been permitted in the area.
The BIOT Administration has facilitated several visits to the territory by the eldest Chagossians, and environmental training for UK-based Chagossians that allows some to become involved in scientific work (alongside visiting scientists). [67]
The British Indian Ocean Territory (Constitution) Order 2004 states that "no person has the right of abode" in the territory as it "was constituted and is set aside to be available for the defence purposes of the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the United States of America", and accordingly, "no person is entitled to enter or be present in the Territory except as authorised" by its laws.
As there is no permanent population, or census, information on the demographics of the territory is limited; the size of the population is related to its offensive requirements. Diego Garcia, with a land area of 27 square kilometres (10 square miles), is the only inhabited island in the territory, and therefore has an estimated average population density of around 110 persons per km2. Diego Garcia's population is normally limited to official visitors and military-essential personnel only, and family members are not authorised to travel to Diego Garcia (the island therefore has no schools). Personnel may not travel to the island for leave, but they may transit through Diego Garcia to connect with follow-on flights. [68] The population in 1995 was estimated to be approximately 3,300; i.e. 1,700 UK and US military personnel and 1,500 civilian contractors. The total population was reportedly 4,000 persons in 2006, of whom 2,200 were US military personnel or contractors, 1,400 were Overseas Filipino Worker contract staff, 300 were Mauritian contract staff, and 100 were members of the British Armed Forces.[ citation needed ] The population had decreased to around 3,000 persons in 2018. [2] United Nations population statistics indicate that island's population is comparable to that of the Falkland Islands. The remainder of the archipelago is ordinarily uninhabited.
In October 2021, 89 Sri Lankan Tamils, including 20 children, who were traveling from India to Canada in a vessel which ran into distress, were intercepted and escorted to Diego Garcia by the British military. After more than seven months without a resolution to their situation on the island, 42 of them started a hunger strike. London solicitors for 81 of them say they have been given no information about how they may claim international protection, or how long they will be kept on Diego Garcia. [69]
On 10 April 2022, a further 30 asylum seekers rescued from a second vessel joined the 89 Sri Lankans, who are being kept in a tented fenced-in camp. [70] [71] The United Kingdom has not extended many humanitarian treaties to the unpopulated islands, including the 1951 Refugee Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which makes the legal situation difficult. [72] [73] On 25 October 2022, the British government stated it "remains committed to supporting their departure" and they "will not be permitted to make a claim for asylum in the UK". [74]
Further small boats with Tamil refugees that ran into difficulties were escorted to Diego Garcia, where repairs were made, and they were permitted to leave. One boat carrying 46 people went on to the French territory of Réunion. [75] [73]
The BIOT commissioner ruled that the group that had arrived in October 2021 could be lawfully returned to Sri Lanka. However ten group members challenged this decision in the BIOT Supreme Court, on the basis that the decision-making process was flawed, and were granted a judicial review that was due to be heard in September 2023. However just before the judicial review hearing, lawyers representing the commissioner withdrew all the decisions, and the commissioner agreed to reassess each protection claim using reviewers not previously involved in the cases. The solicitor for eight of the group said: "Our clients are relieved that the BIOT commissioner has finally agreed to withdraw the unlawful decisions to forcibly return them to Sri Lanka where they face risk of torture and persecution." [76] [77]
The asylum seekers live in tents in a fenced camp of approximately 100m by 140m, which they cannot leave without a security escort. "Most of the children have never left the camp other than infrequent visits to the beach under security escort" a report by a UN agency says. There have been reports of sexual assault (by other asylum seekers), self-harm and suicide attempts. As of February 2024, there are 61 people in the camp. [78] [79]
All economic activity is concentrated on Diego Garcia, where joint UK/US defence facilities are located. Construction projects and the operation of various services needed to support the military installations are carried out by military, and contract employees from Britain, Mauritius, the Philippines, and the United States. There are no industrial or agricultural activities on the islands. Until the creation of the marine sanctuary, the licensing of commercial fishing provided an annual income of about US$1 million for the territory. [80]
The Navy Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) section provides several facilities on Diego Garcia, including a library, outdoor cinema, shops, and sports centres, with prices in US dollars. The BIOT Post Office provides outbound postal services, and postage stamps have been issued for the territory since 17 January 1968. As the territory was originally part of Mauritius and the Seychelles, these stamps were denominated in rupees until 1992. However, after that date they were issued in denominations of Pound sterling, which is the official currency of the territory. Basic medical services are provided, with the option of medical evacuation where required, and the territory has no schools. [81]
Cable & Wireless started operating telecommunications services in 1982, under licence from the UK Government. In April 2013, the company was acquired by the Batelco Group, and Cable & Wireless (Diego Garcia) Ltd subsequently changed its name to Sure (Diego Garcia) Ltd; Sure International is the corporate division of the business.
Due to its geographic location in proximity to the Equator, with unobstructed views to the horizon, Diego Garcia has access to a relatively large number of geosynchronous satellites over the Indian and eastern Atlantic Oceans, and the island is home to Diego Garcia Station (DGS), a remote tracking station making up part of the United States Space Force's Satellite Control Network (SCN); the station has two sides to provide enhanced tracking capabilities for AFSCN users. [82]
In spring 2022, Diego Garcia was connected to a fiber-optic submarine communications cable, as a spur to the new commercial Oman Australia Cable connecting Perth to Muscat, which ran near the island. The cable also has a spur to Australia's Cocos Islands which has an airfield due to support maritime patrol aircraft. The cable cost $300 million, with the U.S. DOD contributing about a third of the cost. [83]
The territory has three FM radio broadcast stations; provided by the American Forces Network (AFN) and British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS). Amateur radio operations occur from Diego Garcia, using the British callsign prefix VQ9. An amateur club station, VQ9X, was sponsored by the US Navy for use by operators both licensed in their home country and possessing a VQ9 callsign issued by the local British Indian Ocean Territory representative. [84] However, the US Navy closed the station in early 2013, and any future licensed amateurs wishing to operate from the island would therefore have had to provide their own antenna and radio equipment. [85]
The .io (Indian Ocean) country-code top-level domain was delegated by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) to British entrepreneur Paul Kane in 1997, and was operated for private benefit under the trade name 'Internet Computer Bureau' from 1997 until 2017. [86] In April 2017, Paul Kane sold the Internet Computer Bureau holding company to privately held domain name registry services provider Afilias for US$70 million in cash. [87]
In July 2021, the Chagos Refugees Group UK submitted a complaint to the Irish government against Paul Kane and Afilias, seeking repatriation of the .io domain, and payment of back royalties from the $7 m per year in revenue generated by the domain. [88]
The Chagos Islands national football team, started by the descendants of exiled Chagossians, has represented the islands in non-FIFA competitions, including the 2016 CONIFA World Football Cup. [89]
Diego Garcia is an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory, a disputed overseas territory of the United Kingdom also claimed by Mauritius. It is a militarised atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, and the largest of the 60 small islands of the Chagos Archipelago. Portuguese sailors under Pedro Mascarenhas were the first Europeans to discover the island, finding it uninhabited in 1512. After a 1786 British colony failed, the French began using the island as a leper colony and, starting in 1793, coconut cultivation by enslaved labor. It was transferred to British rule after the Napoleonic Wars. It was one of the "Dependencies" of the British Colony of Mauritius until the Chagos Islands were detached for inclusion in the newly created British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 1965.
Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about 2,000 kilometres off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island, as well as Rodrigues, Agaléga, and St. Brandon. The islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, along with nearby Réunion, are part of the Mascarene Islands. The main island of Mauritius, where the population is concentrated, hosts the capital and largest city, Port Louis. The country spans 2,040 square kilometres (790 sq mi) and has an exclusive economic zone covering 2,300,000 square kilometres.
The Chagos Archipelago or Chagos Islands is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives archipelago. This chain of islands is the southernmost archipelago of the Chagos–Laccadive Ridge, a long submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean. In its north are the Salomon Islands, Nelsons Island and Peros Banhos; towards its south-west are the Three Brothers, Eagle Islands, Egmont Islands and Danger Island; southeast of these is Diego Garcia, by far the largest island. All are low-lying atolls, save for a few extremely small instances, set around lagoons.
The Chagossians are an Indo-African ethnic group originating from French slaves brought to the Chagos Islands, specifically Diego Garcia, Peros Banhos, and the Salomon island chain, in the late 18th century. Under international law, they are the indigenous people of the Chagos archipelago. Most Chagossians now live in Mauritius and the United Kingdom after being forcibly removed by the British government in the late 1960s and early 1970s so that Diego Garcia, the island where most Chagossians lived, could serve as the location for a United States military base. Today, no Chagossians are allowed to live on the island of Diego Garcia or anywhere in the Chagos archipelago, despite many of the islands they used to inhabit being over 160 km away from Diego Garcia.
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an archipelago of 55 islands in the Indian Ocean, located south of India. It is situated approximately halfway between Africa and Indonesia. The islands form a semicircular group with an open sea towards the east. The largest, Diego Garcia, is located at the southern extreme end. It measures 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi) and accounts for almost three-quarters of the total land area of the territory. Diego Garcia is the only inhabited island and is home to the joint UK-US naval support facility. Other islands within the archipelago include Danger Island, Three Brothers Islands, Nelson Island, and Peros Banhos, as well as the island groups of the Egmont Islands, Eagle Islands, and the Salomon Islands.
The Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .io is nominally assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory. The domain is managed by Internet Computer Bureau Ltd, a domain name registry, with registrar services provided by Name.com.
The United Kingdom, at the request of the United States, began expelling the inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago in 1968, concluding its forced deportations on 27 April 1973 with the expulsion of the remaining Chagossians on the Peros Banhos atoll. The inhabitants, known at the time as the Ilois, are today known as Chagos Islanders or Chagossians.
The UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic is a student litigation and advocacy project at American University's Washington College of Law.
R v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, ex parte Bancoult [2008] UKHL 61 is a UK constitutional law case in the House of Lords concerning the removal of the Chagos Islanders and the exercise of the Royal Prerogative. The Chagos Islands, acquired by the United Kingdom in 1814, were reorganised as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 1965 for the purpose of removing its inhabitants. Under a 1971 ordinance, the Chagossians were forcibly removed, and the central island of Diego Garcia leased to the United States for use as a military outpost.
Sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is disputed between Mauritius and the United Kingdom. Mauritius has repeatedly stated that the Chagos Archipelago is part of its territory and that the United Kingdom claim is a violation of United Nations resolutions banning the dismemberment of colonial territories before independence. On 22 May 2019, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution declaring that the archipelago was part of Mauritius, with 116 countries voted in favor of Mauritius while six opposed it.
The Chagos Marine Protected Area, located in the central Indian Ocean in the British Indian Ocean Territory of the United Kingdom, is one of the world's largest officially designated marine protected areas, and one of the largest protected areas of any type on Earth. It was established by the British government on 1 April 2010 as a massive, contiguous, marine reserve, it encompasses 640,000 square kilometres (250,000 sq mi) of ocean waters, including roughly 70 small islands and seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago. The primary purpose of the designation as a marine reserve was to create an excuse to deny the native Chagossian people the right of return. Unlike true marine reserves, the area is heavily polluted by the nearby military base, which is exempt from all restrictions imposed on the area.
Jagdish Dharamchand Koonjul, GCSK, GOSK, is the Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations, and was President of the United Nations Security Council in January 2002.
East Point is an abandoned settlement on the east of the atoll of Diego Garcia in the British Indian Ocean Territory. It was the largest civilian settlement in the archipelago, and served as the administrative capital until the depopulation of the territory.
British Forces British Indian Ocean Territories (BFBIOT) is the name for the British Armed Forces Permanent Joint Operating Base (PJOB) on Diego Garcia, in the British Indian Ocean Territory. While the naval and airbase facilities on Diego Garcia are leased to the United States as Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, in practice, the base operates as a joint UK-US base, with the United Kingdom retaining full and continual access.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the British Indian Ocean Territory since 3 June 2014. An Order in Council to legalise same-sex marriages was enacted by the Privy Council of the United Kingdom on 28 April 2014, and took effect on 3 June. The British Indian Ocean Territory, despite having no permanent population, was among the first British Overseas Territories to legalise same-sex marriage.
The British Indian Ocean Territory, sometimes known as the Chagos Archipelago has had many threats of occupation by various groups, especially since the Depopulation of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago, as well as being a joint UK-US facility that is used in countering terrorism. The UK maintains that there is a low risk of terrorism in this territory.
The Maldives–Lakshadweep–Chagos Archipelago tropical moist forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in South Asia. It spans a chain of coralline islands in the Indian Ocean, including Lakshadweep, a union territory of India; the Maldives, an independent country; and the British Indian Ocean Territory, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom.
Sabrina Jean is a second-generation Chagossian and activist for the Chagossian community to return home to the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, administered as part of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Sega tambour Chagos is one of the types of Sega music of Mauritius, with origins in the Chagos Archipelago. It is sung in the Chagossian creole language of the islands.
Jessy Marcelin is a Chagossian musician and activist who was born in the Chagos Islands and forced to leave as part of Britain's displacement of the Chagossian people.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Further reading