Someone in the know has told me a secret. Apparently all 2,667 residents of the Scottish island of Mull are about to be forcibly evacuated to make way for the military base of a foreign ally. I’m told they will have to leave all their possessions behind and will be entitled to only a derisory amount in compensation.
Those who refuse to go quietly will watch their pets systematically slaughtered and their food supplies drying up. This is only the first phase. Surrounding islanders may share the same fate, as the foreign power does not want witnesses to its troop and weapons movements.
They’ll take the government to court, and win, you might think. They might indeed, but an ancient royal prerogative supersedes any court decision which translates to the islanders waving goodbye to their homes, friends, culture and traditions, perhaps, forever.
“What a load of tripe”, you must be saying to yourself. The British government would never do such a thing. You’re right on one thing. It would never behave that way toward its own citizens and even if it wanted to it couldn’t get away with it.
In fact, it is all true with one exception. Instead of the “Scottish Island of Mull” read “the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia and neighboring Chagos Islands”. And instead of “2,667 residents” read “2000”.
After secretly leasing Diego Garcia to the Americans in the 1960s for use as an airbase, the British bullied and intimidated the entire population of the Chagos archipelago into leaving their palm-lined island paradise.
Their beloved dogs gassed by arriving US soldiers, the islanders were herded into rickety boats and dumped with little more than the clothes they stood up in on the shores of Mauritius or the Seychelles where they were left to fend for themselves.
Many arrived sick. Others soon died from illness or a broken heart. They were treated as unwelcome guests and since they weren’t able to communicate with the locals in a common tongue jobs were hard to come by. Several families were split up — destined never to reunite with their loved ones.
In fact, the Chagossians were abandoned to live out the rest of their lives in shacks, hungry and isolated; their spirits broken. Today, fewer than half are still alive. Those who survive are mostly elderly but refuse to give up the dream of one day returning to the carefree island of their youth, where they say they lived in harmony and never wanted for anything.
That dream may be close to being realized. A 2006 High Court decision overturned the powers of the ancient royal prerogative titled “Orders of Council” which bypass Parliament, referring to their use in this case as “repugnant”. The government appealed the ruling but failed to convince the Court of Appeal as to its case.
This month, three judges opened the door for the islanders to return home and refused to support a government bid to take the case to the House of Lords. They described the right to return home as one of the most fundamental human rights.
This should be a time for celebration but the islanders have won three previous cases in the High Court and quickly found their dreams quashed by a government determined to do America’s bidding at no matter what cost to its own human rights standing within the international community.
In 2000, the then British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook conceded defeat and promised to make arrangements for islanders to return home. It turned out to be empty promise. A handful did go back in 2006 but only for one day to visit the graves of their ancestors.
The Chagossians have been more than willing to compromise having relinquished their rights to the largest island Diego Garcia — a strategic US Indian Ocean asset from where fighter jets are launched headed to Afghanistan and Iraq and US ships stop to refuel.
However, Washington is concerned that surrounding islands could be used as terrorist bases or surveillance outposts for unfriendly nations and has been steadfast in rejecting their repopulation, claiming such would pose an unacceptable security risk. Following the latest ruling, the Foreign Office has admitted the islanders now have a theoretical right of return but says it finds the ruling disappointing and hopes to appeal against the court’s refusal of appeal.
Sadly, even if the government is backed into a legal corner from which there is no escape, the islanders will have yet another struggle on their hands. Their islands have been neglected for 40 years. There are no roads, hospitals, schools, electricity and little fresh water and it’s likely the British government wouldn’t be eager to provide these facilities.
The Islanders accused the British government of dragging its heels in hopes they will die off before they can obtain their court-given rights and take physical possession of their homeland. Tragically, they may be right.
If the United Nations were an institution that was unfettered and unbiased it should get involved for the sake of humanity, justice and human rights. The Chagos islanders have a legal right to return and if Britain or the US won’t facilitate that right due to their own selfish interests, then the international community should.
But don’t hold your breath. It’s surely a sad indictment on morality when Britain launched a war to protect the interests of Anglo-Saxon Falkland islanders in 1982 while at the same time it was intent on depriving Chagossians — the children of 18th century African and Indian laborers — of theirs.
Shame on those countries that send emissaries around the world lecturing others on human rights. It’s time they took a long hard look in the mirror.
