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Sub-Committee: Only UK Govt stands in the way of Chagossian resettlement

14 March 2024

The Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on the British Overseas Territories publishes a letter calling on the Government to immediately begin a pilot resettlement programme to provide a right for the Chagossian people to return to their ancestral home. The Sub-Committee concludes that, from the evidence it has received, it is currently the UK Government, and only the UK Government, standing in the way of this resettlement taking place.

In parallel to this pilot programme, the Sub-Committee is fully supportive of a successful conclusion and outcome to ongoing negotiations regarding sovereignty, ensuring continued operation of the base at Diego Garcia which plays a fundamental role in global security.

The resettlement programme should be undertaken in partnership with the Mauritian and US Governments, the various Chagossian groups, and with the input of the scientific community.

The letter urges the Government to hold discussions with the US Government on how they intend to contribute to the process of resettlement and calls for the US to make financial commitments to support this process given the benefits the US derives from the base at Diego Garcia and their role in operating the base.

The letter voices concern that such a small proportion of the Chagossian Support Package (CSP) has been invested in projects to support the Chagossian community in the UK, when clearly it was set up for a purpose for which it is not being used. It calls for further information from Government on which projects have been rejected for funding and asks whether it is possible to allocate funds from the CSP to support the resettlement of Chagossians.

The Sub-Committee also calls for increased engagement with the Chagossian community and the creation of a permanent desk officer in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to engage with the Chagossian community, ensure the CSP is being deployed effectively, and to begin the work needed to launch a pilot resettlement programme.

The letter emphasises the importance of environmental protections and calls for this to be front and centre of the Government’s objectives in negotiations.

Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Alicia Kearns MP, said:

“The forcible expulsion of Chagossian people by the UK has left deep scars and this mass displacement is within living memory. There is a strong moral case to provide the Chagossian diaspora the right to return to their ancestral home and we have received no evidence that this is at odds with the continued operation of the base on Diego Garcia.

“It is our determination that the UK Government alone stands in the way of the resettlement of the Chagossian people.

“There are also questions to be answered over the Chagossian Support Package, which was created to provide funding to support the Chagossian diaspora settle and grow their communities in the UK. Far too little of this money seems to have reached the Chagossian community, and we call for the Government to provide an audit to us of how it has been deployed so far and to create a permanent desk office at the FCDO to better manage the programme and support Chagossians in the UK.”

“We are grateful to the members of the Chagossian diaspora in the UK with whom we have met over the last months and for the written evidence from Chagossians in Europe, Mauritius and the Seychelles. We’ve also held public evidence sessions hearing from experts in international law and former diplomats.”