The Chagos Islands APPG has written to the The Times newspaper regarding the resettlement of the Chagos Islanders on their indigenous homeland.
The Chagos Islands are located in the British Indian Ocean Territory, located in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Between 1967 and 1973, the entire population of the Chagos Islands was removed against its will from the islands, and relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for a joint US/UK military base. To this day, the islands are solely inhabited by military personnel, most of them American. Most of the indigenous Chagos Islanders and their descendants live still live on Mauritius or the Seychelles.
It is the opinion of the Chagos Islands APPG that provisions should be made to allow the indigenous Chagos Islanders to return to their homeland as soon as possible.
The text of the letter was as follows:
"Sir, a provision of Magna Carta is the right not to be exiled. Its 800th anniversary on June 15 is a fitting occasion on which to recall that while celebrate the liberties enshrined in Magna Carta there is a prima facie breach of clause 39 ("No man shall be...exilled...except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land"). The Chagos Islanders, British citizens, were exiled from their homeland, the British Indian Ocean Territory, under royal prerogative, betwen 1968 and 1973, and dumped in Mauritius and the Seychelles. Many have since died.
We, members of the Chagos Islands (BIOT) All-Party Parliamentary Group, urge the new government to honour the 2014 feasibility study which found that there were no legal or climatic reasons why resettlement should not be achieved. On June 22 the Supreme Court will consider an application to restore the right of abode. If the court has jurisdiction it could overturn this injustice.
Signed: Jeremy Corbyn, MP; Andrew Rosindell, MP; Henry Smith, MP; Lord Avebury; Lord Ramsbotham; Lord Steel of Aikwood; Lord Luce; Lord Lea; Lord Jones; Lord Prescott; Baroness Whitaker; Baroness Ludford; Sir Peter Bottomley, MP; Kate Hoey, MP; John McDonnell, MP; Alan Brown, MP; David Snoxell, co-ordinator"