ICJ orders Britain to return Chagos Islands to Mauritius

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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday ordered Britain to return the Chagos Islands, the largest of which is home to a strategic U.S. airbase, in the Indian Ocean from its control to Mauritius “as rapidly as possible,” ruling that Britain's continued occupation of the islands is illegal while also urging all the UN member states to implement the order.

Delivering the non-binding decision, ICJ President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, said that “the process of decolonization of Mauritius was not lawfully completed when that country acceded to independence [in 1968] and that the United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible.”

The Hague-based world court added that it “is of the opinion that all member states are under an obligation to co-operate with the United Nations in order to complete the decolonization of Mauritius.”

While the 13 to 1 decision is only advisory in nature, the explicit clarity of the verdict is being seen as yet another massive blow to Britain's global standing after it failed to get its candidate elected as a judge of the world court in late 2017 following a bitterly-fought contest against India at the UN.

This made the UK the only permanent UN Security Council member to have no representation at The Hague, and also the first time in the history of ICJ to not have a British judge on its bench.

ICJ President Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf delivers the advisory opinion on the matter of Chagos Archipelago, at the ICJ headquarter in The Hague, February 25, 2019. /ICJ Photo

View of the ICJ courtroom as the advisory opinion on the matter of Chagos Archipelago is read out on February 25, 2019. /ICJ Photo

Legal teams and delegates from Britain and Mauritius at the ICJ courtroom on February 25, 2019. /ICJ Photo

Britain was also isolated in the case of the Chagos Archipelago, which it calls the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), ever since the dispute was referred by the UN General Assembly to ICJ in February 2017.

In June of the same year, Britain suffered a huge defeat at the general assembly, where a Mauritius-backed resolution to seek an ICJ advisory opinion on the legal status of the Chagos Islands won by a margin of 94 to 15 votes.

Such was the isolation of Britain on the matter that 65 countries, including many EU states including France and Germany, and traditional UK allies such as Canada and Switzerland, chose to abstain.

Despite being isolated in the UN, Britain insisted it has sovereignty over the archipelago.

It is unthinkable that today, in the 21st century, there is a part of Africa that still remains subject to European colonial rule.

- Namira Negm, legal counsel of the African Union

Mauritius, on the other hand, always maintained that the Chagos Archipelago was part of its territory since the 18th century and that Britain seized the islands illegally by splitting the archipelago off in 1965, three years before the Indian Ocean island nation was granted independence.

In the 1970s, Britain evicted close to 2,000 residents from the archipelago to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for a U.S. air base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos islands, which was leased out to the U.S. for the purpose.

In a 1966 British diplomatic cable, uncovered by Wikileaks in 2009, the evicted Chagossians were described "some few Tarzans and Man Fridays whose origins are obscure and who are hopefully being wished on to Mauritius.”

The case at the ICJ is seen as a test of the legitimacy of deals struck between great powers and small states at the end of the colonial era.

For years, Chagossians have lobbied London to let them return. In 2016, Britain extended the U.S. lease of Diego Garcia until 2036 and said expelled islanders could not go back.

'Historic moment'

Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth said the ICJ judgment was “a historic moment for Mauritius and all its people, including the Chagossians who were unconscionably removed from their homeland and prevented from returning for the last half a century." /VCG Photo

The ICJ on Monday settled the matter in Mauritius' favor.

“The court having found that the decolonization of Mauritius was not conducted in a manner consistent with the right of peoples to self-determination, it follows that the United Kingdom's continued administration of the Chagos Archipelago constitutes a wrongful act entailing the international responsibility of that state,” Judge Yusuf said while reading out the summary.

Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth welcomed the decision as “a historic moment for Mauritius and all its people, including the Chagossians who were unconscionably removed from their homeland and prevented from returning for the last half a century.”

“Our territorial integrity will now be made complete, and when that occurs, the Chagossians and their descendants will finally be able to return home,” he added.

Britain, which apologized last September for the “shameful” way it evicted thousands of Chagossians, has however insisted that Mauritius was wrong to have invoked the ICJ over the matter. Britain's Foreign Office spokesperson reiterated that the ICJ decision “is an advisory opinion, not a judgment.”

“Of course, we will look at the detail of it carefully,” the official added.

Britain also defended the American airbase on Diego Garcia, which was built for strategic advantage during the Cold War but later used as a launching pad for U.S. air raids in Afghanistan and Iraq in the 2000s.

“The defense facilities on the British Indian Ocean Territory help to protect people here in Britain and around the world from terrorist threats, organized crime and piracy,” the British Foreign Office spokesperson said of the U.S. base, which is ironically called Camp Justice.

The U.S. has stated that the ICJ had a “duty” not to take a position on the dispute.

'Long overdue'

An aerial view of Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago and site of a major strategic American military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean. /VCG Photo

A U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber takes off from the Diego Garcia base on a strike mission against Afghanistan, October 7, 2001. /VCG Photo

Chagos islanders outside the High Court in London, where they were fighting the UK government for the reinstatement of their homeland, February 5, 2007. /VCG Photo

The final arbitration now moves to the UN general assembly, which is expected to decide on the issue of resettlement of the illegally expelled Chagossians.

“There's no veto at the UN General Assembly. It will decide how to go forward with the matter. There's no question of the UK coming up with new arguments: their arguments were put forcibly and well,” The Guardian quoted Philippe Sands, a member of the Mauritius legal team at the ICJ, as saying.

Stressing that the next step would be for Britain and Mauritius to sit down and work out a handover. Sands said: “It's difficult to imagine the UK as it moves forward into this Brexit world, ignoring what the international court of justice and the UN general assembly have said. The UK is a country which prides itself on respect for the rule of law. Our hope and expectation is that the UK will honor the ICJ's findings and give effect to it as rapidly as possible.”

Concurring with Sands, Namira Negm, legal counsel of the African Union, which played a key role in the ICJ proceedings, commented that “it is unthinkable that today, in the 21st century, there is a part of Africa that still remains subject to European colonial rule.”

“The full decolonization of Mauritius, and of Africa, is long overdue. The ICJ has made it clear that this must be accomplished today and not tomorrow. Only then the Africans can be free and the continent can aspire to live free of colonialism,” she remarked.

(With input from agencies)

(Cover Photo: A demonstrator demanding her return to the Chagos Islands during a protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London, October 22, 2008. /VCG Photo)