The UK Chagos Support Association

Photo: Gail Johnson

The Chagos Islands (BIOT) All-Party Parliamentary Group held its 28th meeting on 14 March 2012.

The Group discussed the reactions to its proposal, made at the last meeting, that the Chagos Islands should be designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in conjunction with Mauritius and the Chagossians. While the Group understood the reasons why Mauritius and Chagossian groups had strong reservations at this time to the idea, they believed that it was in the interest of all  parties, and that when greater confidence between the FCO and the other parties had been established the proposal could be reconsidered.

The Group was informed of the current situation on the various legal and administrative actions  - the Judicial Review of the MPA would be going ahead, the Mauritius case against the MPA under UNCLOS could run for up to 2 years, there was no news from Strasbourg, the appeal to the Information Tribunal was likely to be heard in July, the FAC was still considering the APPG’s request to extend the jurisdiction of the Parliamentary Commissioner to BIOT. The Group also discussed  parliamentary activity and  PQs. A request for a debate had not yet succeeded.

The Chairman reported on the meeting that he, Mr Rosindell, Lord Avebury and Mr Evenor had with the Immigration Minister on 22 February. The members had carefully explained  the issues to the Minister who seemed fully cognisant of the problem. Mr Green undertook to write to the Chairman. No letter had yet been received.

The Group discussed the announcement  by Defra of funding (£288,000  from the Darwin Initiative)  for a project to research and promote the Chagos MPA, to be carried out by 3 members of the Chagos Conservation Trust. Members were pleased to note that Chagossian groups in the UK, Mauritius and Seychelles would be involved in workshops etc but questioned whether  the two countries concerned and all the Chagossian groups had been consulted before the project was submitted to Defra and whether they wanted to participate. The Group asked to be informed at the next meeting.

The FCO consultation on the Overseas Territories, made public in the morning, was noted. Members wondered why the short paragraph concerning BIOT had not referred to the  Chairman’s letter of 29 November to Mr Bellingham,  recording the views of the APPG for the Consultation, or even why the contribution was not listed at the end. The Chairman said he would find out, by way of a PQ if necessary.

The Group discussed the impact of the play at Riverside Studios entitled ‘A Few Man Fridays’ and the debates, in which the Chairman had participated, that had been held on the two last Saturdays between performances. Members, who had seen the play, were impressed. The Group commended the producer, Adrian Jackson, and members of the cast for the contribution they had made to raising public awareness of the suffering of the Chagossian people and conducting balanced debates on the various issues, not least conservation and the MPA.

The next meeting will take place on 2 May.

Sign the petition calling on President Obama to right the wrongs done to the people of Chagos.

600 signatures at the last count… and we’re aiming for 25,000!

So contends Peter Sand, a leading environment lawyer who has written extensively on Chagos legal issues. In an article recently published in the Journal of Environment and Development, Sand comments that the unilateral enactment of the MPA disregarded “the legitimate interests both of other states and of the people directly concerned” and that it “remains unenforceable under UNCLOS article 73″.

Adrian Jackson, writer and director of A Few Man Fridays, and Sabrina Jean of the Chagos Refugees Group appeared on Radio 4’s Midweek today discussing the play and the history behind it.

There are also reviews of A Few Man Fridays in Time Out and The Sunday Times (£).

The play is on at Riverside Studios until 10 March.

Brian Logan reviews A Few Man Fridays in the Guardian. Nothing in the story, Logan says, “is as potent as the real-life testimonies of the dispossessed Chagossians, which form the play’s disturbing centrepiece”.

There was also a piece by Lyn Gardner on Thursday looking at the historical context of the play, and interviewing writer-director Adrian Jackson. Jackson questions the way the Chagossians’ rights have been pitted against environmental concerns, asking: “Is the footprint of the Chagossians great than that of the US military base and the yachters who visit the area?”

The play is on at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith until 10 March.

Photo: Gail Johnson

The Chagos Islands (BIOT) All-Party Parliamentary Group held its 27th meeting on 1 February 2012.

Lagoon, Egmont Island (Photo: Karin Sinniger)

Members of the all-party parliamentary group on Chagos have written to Foreign Secretary William Hague calling for the Chagos archipelago to be nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

World Heritage Sites are places deemed to be of special cultural or physical significance, including many historic buildings and natural features around the world. The Great Barrier Reef and the Galapagos Islands are both World Heritage Sites, and last year the UK nominated the Turks and Caicos Islands to become one.

This year is the fortieth anniversary of the UNESCO Convention.

Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, who chairs the all-party group, told Hague in a letter that nominating the Chagos archipelago for World Heritage Site status would be a fitting way to celebrate the anniversary and “a magnanimous gesture” by the Foreign Office.

Unlike the government’s decision in 2010 to make Chagos a marine reserve – which was made without properly consulting or winning the support of the Chagossian community or the Mauritian government – the nomination for World Heritage Site status could be pursued with the backing of all parties, Corybn said.

He asked Hague to consider the proposal “and to explore with Mauritius and the Chagossians a way of taking it forward”.

A play inspired by the eviction of the Chagos islands, A Few Man Fridays, is playing at London’s Riverside Studios from 10 February to 10 March, produced by Cardboard Citizens.

The title comes from a real historical quote by a Foreign Office official when the eviction was being planned in 1966, showing the British government’s disdain for the Chagossian people. With his superiors saying the islands must be made empty except for the seagulls, DH Greenhill wrote in a note: “Unfortunately along with the birds go some few Tarzans or Men Fridays whose origins are obscure, and who are hopefully being wished on to Mauritius, etc.”

Cardboard Citizens, which puts on plays performed by homeless and displaced people, stages the story in its trademark style where personal testimony and historical narrative meet to forge epic, mesmerising theatre.

Moving, gripping and funny, A Few Man Fridays unearths an inglorious episode of British history, and explores the fantasies of the powerful set against the dreams of the powerless.

To find out more and to watch the video trailer for the play, click here.

David Snoxell, Coordinator of the Chagos Islands (BIOT) All-Party Parliamentary Group, likens the attitude of the current government to that of unwilling backseat passengers in an article for Conservative Home, saying:

“There is not much evidence that Ministers are succeeding in challenging the status quo on Chagos and applying political will and compromise to finding workable solutions – though, unlike the previous government, it is pretty clear that they would like to do so. They give the impression of being unwilling passengers bound and gagged in the backseat of a car driven doggedly by their officials.”

Mr Snoxell notes that the UK remains in violation of several UN human rights instruments and decisions and that its international reputation continues to be badly damaged by accusations of double standards. He finishes the article by encouraging the government to resolve the Chagossian injustice in 2012, a year in which the eyes of the world will be focussed on the UK:

“What better year than 2012, when the eyes of the world are on London for the Olympic Games and the Diamond Jubilee, to restore the human rights and the dignity of the Chagossian people? What better way to mark the Queen’s long reign, which has seen the transition of the British Empire to a Commonwealth of Nations, by bringing to an end this tragedy and relic of Empire in the Indian Ocean? Jeremy Corbyn, the Chairman of the APPG, has asked for a debate early in the session. This will be the opportunity for the Foreign Secretary to tell Parliament about the progress that he is making towards a settlement of the issues.”

You can read the full article here.

John Pilger’s excellent film Stealing a Nation is now available to watch in full online via Vimeo.

The film tells the story of the illegal eviction of the Chagos islanders and their fight for justice, up to 2004 when the Blair government used the Royal Prerogative to overrule the courts and stop them returning. Stealing a Nation is a moving and revealing introduction to the shocking story of Chagos.

For a quick summary of developments in the Chagos struggle since 2004, see our history section here.