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2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

14. The Politics of Chagos: Part Played by Parliament and the Courts Towards Resolving the Chagos Tragedy

Author : David Snoxell

Published in: Fifty Years of the British Indian Ocean Territory

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) was created for political reasons. Only a political solution based on compromise and negotiation can bring about a resolution of this maelstrom of issues which have dogged the UK for over 50 years. A combination of political and legal pressure is the only way to persuade HMG that an overall settlement is possible and in the national interest. Chagos history abounds with policy failures, myth and deception. Litigation and the courts help redress the political deficit. While proclaiming the sanctity of international law the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ignores, cherry picks and splits hairs where it conflicts with entrenched policies. The Chagos Islands (BIOT) All-Party Parliamentary Group has helped focus parliamentary, media and public attention on the issues, otherwise the preserve of the legal system and academia. William Hague said in 2010 “It is not in our character as a nation to have a foreign policy without a conscience; neither is it in our interests.” Parliamentary, public and international pressure will continue until the Chagossians are allowed to return.

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previous chapter International Law and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: What Next for the Chagossians
Appendix
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Footnotes
1
Snoxell (2009).
 
2
Hewitt (1980).
 
3
Aust (1968).
 
4
Aust (1970).
 
5
Ottaway (1975).
 
6
Editorial (1975).
 
7
US House of Representatives, ‘Diego Garcia 1975: the Debate over the Base and the Island’s former inhabitants’, Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, Ninety-fourth Congress, first session, June 5 and November 4, 1975.
 
8
[2000] EWHC 413 (Admin); [2001] WLR 1219.
 
9
ibid.
 
10
Lawyers for Bancoult had since 2005 requested access to correspondence and drafts of the 2002 feasibility study. The FCO claimed that these had all been destroyed. In May 2012 during the course of a judicial review into the creation of the MPA (see R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 3) [2012] EWHC 2155 (Admin), R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 3) [2012] EWHC 3281 (Admin), R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 3) [2013] EWHC 1502 (Admin) and R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 3) [2014] EWCA Civ 708; [2014] 1 WLR 2921) a thick file of relevant material was disclosed by the Treasury Solicitor with no explanation. This resulted in an application to the Supreme Court during which evidence of the flawed science was submitted. The hearing took place before the Supreme Court on 28–29 June 20–17.
 
11
R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 2) [2008] UKHL 61; [2008] 3 WLR 955.
 
12
R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 2) [2016] UKSC 35; [2016] 3 WLR 157.
 
13
HC Deb 15 June 2004, vol 422, col 32WS.
 
14
HC Deb 7 July 2004, vol 423, col 272WH.
 
15
ibid.
 
16
HC Deb 7 July 2004, vol 423, col 292WH.
 
17
ibid.
 
18
Bancoult (No. 2) (n 11) [22] (Lord Hoffmann).
 
19
ibid [55].
 
20
ibid [57].
 
21
Snoxell (2007).
 
22
See Chagos Islanders v the United Kingdom App no 35622/04 [2009] ECHR 410.
 
23
‘US embassy cables: Foreign Office does not regret evicting Chagos islanders’ The Guardian (London, 1 December 2010).
 
24
Chagos Conservation Trust, Chairman’s report 2008 (unpublished).
 
25
See for example the analysis in Dunne et al. (2014), p. 79.
 
26
See Norton-Taylor and Evans (2010) and Jones (2011).
 
27
R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 3) 28–29 June 2017.
 
28
Chagos Islanders v the United Kingdom App no 35622/04 [2012] ECHR 2094.
 
29
HC Deb 16 November 2016, vol 617, col 11WS; HL Deb 17 November 2016, vol 776, col 1536.
 
31
Wintour (2016).
 
32
Corbyn (2016).
 
33
R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 2) [2016] UKSC 35.
 
34
Communiqué issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, Port Louis, 17 November 2016.
 
35
Bancoult (No. 1) (n 8).
 
36
Bancoult (No. 2) (n 11) [72] (Lord Bingham).
 
37
Treasury Solicitor’s Department, ‘Guidance on Discharging the Duty of Candour and Disclosure in Judicial Review Proceedings’, January 2010: ‘A public authority’s duty must not be to win the litigation at all costs but to assist the court in reaching the correct result and thereby to improve standards in public administration.’ ‘It is a process which falls to be conducted with all the cards face upwards on the table and the vast majority of cards will start in the authority’s hands.’ ‘As a civil servant you must act in accordance with the core values of the Civil Service: integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.’ <http://​webarchive.​nationalarchives​.​gov.​uk/​20130704203515/​http:​/​www.​tsol.​gov.​uk/​Publications/​Guidance_​on_​Discharging_​the_​Duty_​of_​Candour.​pdf> accessed 3 July 2017.
 
38
Chagos Marine Protected Area Arbitration (Mauritius v United Kingdom) (2015) Permanent Court of Arbitration <https://​www.​pcacases.​com/​web/​view/​11> accessed 3 July 2017.
 
39
Resolution A/RES71/292 adopted by the General Assembly on 22 June 2017 Request for an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1975. 71 st session, agenda item 87.
 
40
See M Rycroft’s speech Gov.UK <https://​www.​gov.​uk/​government/​speeches/​questions-on-the-british-indian-ocean-territory> accessed 3 July 2017. I have described the speech as a patchwork of spin, omission, economy with the truth and a misrepresentation of the historical background to the excision of the Archipelago in 1965. I have responded to the speech in a point-to-point rebuttal in Weekly. See Snoxell (2017a, b, c).
 
41
Republic of Mauritius, Aide Memoire, Item 87 of the Agenda of the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly, May 2017.
 
42
Bowcott (2017).
 
43
R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 2) [2008] UKHL 61, [10].
 
44
Echandi (2013), p. 275.
 
45
Foreign Affairs Committee, Seventh Report, Overseas Territories, Response of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Cm 7473, 2007-08) para 14.3 and Foreign Affairs Committee, Overseas Territories, Seventh Report (HC 2007-08 147-I), para 3.
 
46
Hague (2010).
 
Literature
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Aust A (1970) Immigration legislation for BIOT. In: Folio 6 file FCO 32/725. National Archives, London
Chagos Islanders v the United Kingdom App no 35622/04 [2009] ECHR 410
Chagos Islanders v the United Kingdom App no 35622/04 [2012] ECHR 2094
Corbyn J (and 32 further signatories) (2016) Justice for Chagos. The Times, London, 10 December 2016
Dunne RP, Polunin NV, Sand PH, Johnson ML (2014) The creation of the Chagos marine protected area: a fisheries perspective. Adv Mar Biol 69:79CrossRef
Echandi R (2013) A novel approach towards addressing investor-state conflicts: development of investor-state dispute prevention mechanisms. In: Echandi R, Sauve P (eds) Prospects in International Investment Law and Policy. Cambridge University Press, p 275
Editorial (1975) The Diego Garcians. Washington Post, Washington, 11 September 1975
Foreign Affairs Committee (2007) Seventh Report. Overseas Territories, Response of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Cm 7473
Hewitt M (1980) Vencatassen and the Ilois. In: Folio 119 file FCO 31/2770. National Archives, London
Ottaway D (1975) Islanders were evicted for US base. Washington Post, Washington, 9 September 1975
R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 2) [2008] UKHL 61; [2008] 3 WLR 955
R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 2) [2016] UKSC 35; [2016] 3 WLR 157
R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 3) [2012] EWHC 3281 (Admin)
R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 3) [2013] EWHC 1502 (Admin)
R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No. 3) [2014] EWCA Civ 708; [2014] 1 WLR 2921
R (on the application of Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No.3) [2012] EWHC 2155 (Admin)
Snoxell D (2007) Letter ‘Justice for the Chagos Islands’. The Times, London, 12 February 2007
Snoxell D (2009) Anglo/American complicity in the removal of the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands, 1964–73. J Imp Commonw Hist 37:127–134CrossRef
Snoxell D (2017a) A rebuttal of the UK’s case (Part I). Weekly, 29 June 2017
Snoxell D (2017b) A rebuttal of the UK’s case (Part II). Weekly, 6 July 2017
Snoxell D (2017c) A rebuttal of the UK’s case (Part III). Weekly, 13 July 2017
United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES71/292 adopted by the General Assembly on 22 June 2017
Metadata
Title
The Politics of Chagos: Part Played by Parliament and the Courts Towards Resolving the Chagos Tragedy
Author
David Snoxell
Copyright Year
2018
Book
Fifty Years of the British Indian Ocean Territory

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78540-0

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-78541-7

Copyright Year: 2018

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78541-7_14

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