A United Nations committee has urged Britain and Mauritius not to ratify a proposed agreement on the future of the Chagos Islands, warning it risks perpetuating long-standing violations of the Chagossian people’s rights.
On Monday, the committee stated that the deal, finalised in May after years of negotiations, would see sovereignty of the archipelago transferred to Mauritius. However, it also stipulates that Britain would retain control of the strategically important US-UK air base on Diego Garcia, the largest island, through a long-term lease.
Up to 2,000 Chagossians were forcibly removed from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s, with many subsequently settling in Britain and some continuing to seek the right to return.
The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which met in Geneva this month, expressed concern that the agreement “explicitly prevents the return of the Chagossian people to their ancestral lands in Diego Garcia Island.”
It also voiced concern that the deal did not formally acknowledge past injustices, provide full reparation for harms, or allow the islands to preserve their distinct cultural heritage.”
The decision is very promising. It gives us strength to keep pushing, fighting, and working together,” said Bertrice Pompe, a British Chagossian who filed the U.N. complaint.
Britain and Mauritius, along with some 180 other states, are parties to the legally binding 1965 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination overseen by the U.N. Committee.
“We recognise the importance of the islands to Chagossians,” said a British Foreign Office spokesperson.”Under the treaty, Mauritius will be able to develop a programme of resettlement to islands other than Diego Garcia, and the UK has separately committed to support heritage visits to the archipelago, including Diego Garcia.”
Mauritius’ diplomatic mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The World Court urged Britain in 2019 to return the islands to Mauritius. London has since acknowledged that the removal of Chagossians was “deeply wrong and regrettable”.
The committee issued the decision under its early warning system, which discusses urgent matters to limit treaty violations and prevent them escalating into conflicts.
It urges the parties to “continue cooperating to bring an end to the harm suffered by the Chagossian people and the violations of their rights”.
