ICJ on decolonisation of Mauritius

Context:

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) dismissed the UK’s right to govern the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean and called on its government to withdraw from the archipelago.

What is the issue?

The Chagos Archipelago is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 km south of the Maldives.
  • It had been part of Mauritius since the 18th century when the French first settled the islands. All of the islands of French colonial territory in the region were ceded to the British in 1810.
  • Before Mauritian independence, in 1965, the UK split the archipelago from the territory of Mauritius to form the British Indian Ocean Territory and permitted the US to use it for defence purposes for 50 years (until December 2016) followed by a 20-year optional extension and US Military Base was setup in Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands.
  • 2,000 inhabitants were resettled in Mauritius and the Seychelles.
The UN resolutions banned the dismemberment of colonial territories before independence. Therefore Mauritius claims sovereignty over the islands and states that Britain’s claim is a violation of law and of UN resolutions.
In late 1960s and early 1970s, all Chagossians were removed from the Chagos Islands under UK-orders. They were deported either to Mauritius or the Seychelles, with no compensation or support arriving for several years.

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

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