A refugee crisis in the Chagos Islands
Diego Garcia, one of the Chagos Islands which are still controlled by Britain, has become a “hell” for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who are trapped on this remote Indian Ocean island. The Chagos Islands is Britain’s last African colony, a reminder that colonialism has not been entirely defeated.
Human Rights Watch declared that the U.S. and UK governments must pay reparations to Chagossians for the criminal forced displacement that these governments committed against them. Further, a United Nations court ruled that the UK has no sovereignty over the Chagos Islands and must end its “unlawful occupation” of them.
President Biden has spoken at length about the idea of a “rules-based international order”, particularly when discussing the actions of the Russian and Chinese governments. Well, this is what that means. A rules-based international order is not Western, it is international. Adhering to a rules-based international order means listening to the decisions of the United Nations and not to the talking points of a rogue British state. For these reasons, President Biden must pressure the British government to immediately relinquish sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and to pay reparations to the families of displaced Chagossians.
An illegal occupation
In recent years, Diego Garcia has become a judicial vacuum that consumes Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. These refugees sail from Sri Lanka into the Indian Ocean and are then found at sea outside of Diego Garcia. The UK Navy then finds them and takes them to the island. Many of these refugees have been stranded at Diego Garcia for years. As of 2023, there have been at least 12 suicide attempts as well as at least two sexual assaults at the camp. There have also been hunger strikes at the camp, which even children have taken part in.
The UN refugee agency stated the obvious recently that the island is “not a suitable location” for migrants. Given the sheer illegality of the UK’s occupation of these islands in the first place along with the dreadful conditions that these migrants are living in, the only solution is for the UN or the US to step in and terminate the UK’s occupation, and relinquish administration of the islands to Mauritius.
