Britain's colonial rule over the Chagos islands

When we thought colonialism disappeared, apparently it has not. Britain can still be seen as a colonial ruler of the Chagos island - islands that Mauritius is desperately pleading to get back. We think that the colonial era is over but the fact that the UK is still committing crimes against humanity in these islands shows that we are a long way from it. 

Earlier this year, Mauritius won a major victory against Britain when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled, in an advisory opinion, that the Chagos Islands should be handed over to Mauritius in order to complete its decolonisation. The United Nations General Assembly then voted to give Britain a 6 month deadline to begin that process. However, the UK has refused to comply. 

The fact is that it has been half a century since Britain took control of the Chagos islands from its then colony, Mauritius and evicted the ENTIRE population of more than 1,000 people in order to make way for an American military base. A military base that was part of a secret deal negotiated behind Mauritius' back as it was seeking to secure independence from the UK. 

Philippe Sands, a lawyer representing the Mauritian government said: "Britain is on the edge of finding itself as a pariah state. We now have a situation where Chagossians - a deported population, want to go back and have a right to go back. And the UK is preventing them from going back. Question - is that a crime against humanity? My response is that, arguably, it is." 

The UK is continuing to pursue that the ICJ ruling is wrong and it has apologised for its past treatment of the Chagossians and promised to hand the islands over to Mauritius when they are no longer needed for security purposes. In a statement, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) told the BBC: "The defence facilities on the British Indian Ocean Territory help protect people in Britain and around the world from terrorist threats and policy. We stand by our commitment to cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius when it's no longer required for defence purposes." 

Every day, the native people of this island are dying with the hope of returning to live there. Some of them believe that the British are waiting for them to die in order for there to be nobody left to claim the island. An apparent lack of goodwill can be evident on the side of the British government with the fight over the Chagos islands been dragging on throughout many years. 

The UK has leased the island to the US until 2036, with it serving as a military base for both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. It is deplorable that not only the UK made this decision in 1968 but that the people living on the island in peace and harmony were forcibly removed. The International Court of Justice has said that Britain's behaviour is illegal as the archipelago is legally a part of Mauritius. The court said that Britain had illegally separated the islands from Mauritius and should give them back. 

The deadline for the handover of the island expired on November 22, but the court ruling is not legally bindings but it does carry weight by reflecting world opinion. The ICJ provided an avenue for Mauritius to seek justice after repeated refusals by the UK to engage with the issue politically but it also reveals the flaws of an international legal system. According to academic research, this system has its roots in colonialist expansion which once provided the legal basis for states to claim colonial control over foreign people. The UK's refusal to uphold the near-unanimous opinion and the subsequent UN resolution represents a troubling rebuttal of the international legal order. The UK has now joined the ranks of Russia and China in flouting the rules of international law. 

Ultimately, the UK seems to have no intention to make such a move in the near future, rejecting complete decolonisation. The reluctance for the UK to cave into international pressure is unknown but it can lie in the fact that it is still coming to terms with its place in world politics. It is in the process of leaving the EU, negotiating new trade agreements and political agreements with several countries and the government is in real trouble. This can be a fact as to why the UK is clinging on to its last colony in Africa. 

The Labour Party in the UK has promised to respect this ruling from the International Court of Justice, however, until they receive a majority in Parliament it is unlikely that decolonisation will happen. Currently, there are approximately 596 Chagossians who were forced to leave the island in 1968 and are still alive today. They are roughly 9,800 descendants who identify as Chagossians. This highlights that there are still victims of colonialism in this 21st century. An issue where there is a supposed common consensus that it has been eradicated. 

This refute emphases the unresolved colonial legacy. I feel that sometimes in the UK we live in our own bubble, believing that colonialism is something of the past. But this case study which is happening today in 2020 shows it is not. It still exists today and the UK's action on the issue evokes echoes of a colonial attitude that is encompassing parts of the international community. This case shows the resurgence of imperialist attitude and unwelcome remnant of colonialism. Something we must tackle.