UN panel urges UK to renegotiate Chagos Islands deal

A UN panel has advised the United Kingdom to renegotiate a deal returning the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, announcing it “fails to guarantee” the rights of the Chagossian other folks.

The deal, signed final month, returned sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius, however the United Kingdom retained the suitable to run an army base on Diego Garcia, the biggest of the Chagos Islands.

By combating the Chagossian other folks from returning to Diego Garcia, “the agreement appears to be at variance with the Chagossians’ right to return,” the UN professionals wrote.

A Foreign Office spokesperson mentioned the UK-Mauritius deal have been “welcomed by international organisations including the UN secretary general”.

The panel of 4 professionals had been appointed via the UN Human Rights Council, however don’t seem to be UN personnel and are impartial from the UN.

They mentioned via the United Kingdom holding the army base of Diego Garcia, the Chagossian other folks had been hindered from having the ability to “exercise their cultural rights in accessing their ancestral lands from which they were expelled”.

The panel known as for the present deal to be suspended and for a brand new settlement to be negotiated.

Under the settlement, the United Kingdom would pay a mean of £101m a 12 months for 99 years to proceed working the army base on Diego Garcia, in live performance with the United States.

The Chagos Islands are positioned within the Indian Ocean about 5,799 miles (9,332km) south-east of the United Kingdom, and about 1,250 miles north-east of Mauritius.

The UK bought the islands for £3m in 1968, however Mauritius has argued it used to be illegally pressured to offer away the islands as a way to acquire independence from Britain.

Diego Garcia used to be then cleared to make manner for an army base, with massive teams of Chagossians forcibly moved to Mauritius and the Seychelles, or taking over a call for participation to settle in England, basically in Crawley, West Sussex.

Since then, Chagossians have no longer been allowed to go back to Diego Garcia.

Before the UK-Mauritius deal used to be signed final month, two Chagossian girls residing in the United Kingdom – who had been born on Diego Garcia – introduced a last-minute felony bid to forestall it, announcing the settlement didn’t ensure the suitable of go back to their island of start.

The deal features a £40m believe fund to toughen Chagossians, an element that the UN panel additionally wondered would “comply with the right of the Chagossian people to effective remedy… and prompt reparation”.

“The agreement also lacks provisions to facilitate the Chagossian people’s access to cultural sites on Diego Garcia and protect and conserve their unique cultural heritage,” the panel added.

The Foreign Office spokesperson mentioned: “We recognise the importance of the islands to Chagossians and have worked to ensure the agreement reflects this.”

Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel mentioned the Conservatives “have been warning from the start that this deal is bad for British taxpayers and bad for the Chagossian people”.

“It is why I have introduced a bill in Parliament that would block the [agreement] and force the government to speak to the people at the heart of their surrender plans,” she mentioned.

Both the House of Commons and House of Lords have till 3 July to move a answer to oppose the deal being ratified.