the Disillusioned kid: Rights Of The Wronged
| Email | Home | Linkage | Profile |

Monday, December 13, 2004

Rights Of The Wronged

The UK Chagos Support Association (hereafter UKCSA) has a report, linked from its front page suggesting that progress was made during a recent vist by representatives of the Chagossian community to the UK:
Among other things, they managed to secure an unprecedented visit to Diego Garcia for 100 Chagossians in April next year.

Olivier Bancoult and other representatives of the Chagos Refugees Group, as well as members of the Chagos Committee of the Seychelles, and other supporters, met with parliamentary undersecretary of state Bill Rammell, with whom the visit was agreed.

Mr Rammell also agreed to visit the Chagossians living in Mauritius in January, to see the conditions they are living in.
The UKCSA also link to a report of a debate on the plight of the Chagossians organised by the Minority Rights Group (MRG), but before turning to the details of this debate, it is worth pointing to comments it attribute to Chagossian community leader Olivier Bancoult:
Bancoult's delegation had earlier in the day met with Foreign Office Minister, Bill Rammell, in a meeting which they suggested did little to inspire faith in any government rethink on their position to allow no further consideration of the rights to return or compensation for the islanders.
If Rammell did indeed give permission for a visit, this is an important step, but we shouldn't get carried away. Similar things have been promised before (although, to my knowledge, a date has never previously been set for such a visit) and come to nought. Furthermore allowing the islanders to visit their homes does little to rectify the injustices done to the Chagossians by the British government.

The debate held by the MRG looks to have been fascinating and it is unfortunate that I missed it. The event, 'Diego Garcia: A Crime Against Humanity?' was held in the Houses of Commons and sponsored by MP and long-time campaigner for the rights of the Chagossians, Jeremy Corbyn. The meeting was addressed by the aforementioned Olivier Bancoult, lawyer for the Chagossians Richard Gifford, Cambridge-based anthropologist Laura Jeffrey and as a representative of the islanders living in the UK, Allen Vincatassin. There is much of interest in the report of the meeting and seeing as I wasn't there and so have little of my own to offer the best solution would seem to be to encourage you to go and read it yourself.

The report explains that Gifford's contribution to the discussion was an analysis of the expulsion as a crime against humanity. As a useful adjunct to this the MRG presents the arguments for considering the expulsion of the islanders and their subsequent treatment as a crime against humanity and the implications of such a verdict. I had considered selecting the the key parts of their analysis here, but in practice I would have to excerpt nearly the whole text. Instead I think I'll again have to encourage you to read it yourself. This time, however, I should emphasise that this is something of a must read for anyone interested in correcting the injustices done to the Chagossians. As a bonus, the analysis avoids becoming too technical, is easy too read and fairly short. Go, read it. Now!
|

Links to this post:

Create a Link

<< Home

Side Projects

Carnival of Anarchy
The Peace Pipe
UK Watch Blog

Acquaintances

Against the Current
Atopian.org
Culture hits and gendered bits
Daniel Randall
In The Water
Mike Wood
On The Barricades
Pizarro's Sword
Space Cat Rocket Ship
Surveillant Assemblage
TashCamUK FotoPage
The Naked Lunch
The Peace Pipe
The World of the Dynamite Lady

Strangers

Anarchoblogs
Antiwar.com Blog
Arte & Lingua
Barker in Valencia
Blairwatch
Bloggerheads
Blood & Treasure
Bombs and Shields
Boomablog
Born at the Crest of the Empire
Chase me ladies...
Chicken Yoghurt
Craig Murray
Dead Men Left
Direland
Disreputable Lazy Aliens
Empire Notes
Europhobia
Friends of Al Jazeera
Global Guerillas
Guerillas in the Midst
I Blame the Patriachy
Informed Comment
Insultadarity
Janine Booth
Lenin's Tomb
Life of Riley Blog
Media Watch Watch
Neil Shakespeare
NO2ID NewsBlog
One Hump or Two?
Otto's Random Thoughts
Perfect.co.uk
Pitch In For Uzbekistan
Registan.net
Run over by the truth
Solidarity With Iraqi Workers
Shut Up You Fat Whiner!
Sudan: Passion of the Present
Talk Politics
The Anthropik Network
The Daily (Maybe)
The Devil's Kitchen
The Disillusioned
The f-word
The Head Heeb
The Killing Train
The Revenge of Winston Smith
The Socialist Unity Blog
The Wicked Truth
Theory of Power
Things I Don't Have Time For
This (Fresh) Gringo
This Is My Truth
Thumping the Tub
Time The Dreaded Enemy
UK Watch Blog
UK Poli Blogs
underbrella
Under The Same Sun
Uzbekistan.neweurasia.net
What Fresh Hell Is This?
Where is Raed? (RIP)
Who Are You to Accuse Me?
Words and Rocks
Zeropointnine
Z-Net Blog

Neighbours

Asbo Community Space
Defy-ID
Eastside Climate Action
Faslane 365
Freecycle
Indymedia
No Borders
Nottingham Student Peace Movement
Refugee Forum
Stop the War
Sumac Centre
The Demo Project

Ivory Towers

Anarchist Studies Network
Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice
Postanarchism Clearinghouse

Miscellania

Anarchist FAQ
Antiwar.com
Chagos Discussion List
Chagos Support Forums
Electronic Intifada
Future of Iraq Portal
Index of Political Blogs
Indymedia UK
Infoshop
Iraq Occupation Focus
Pledgebank
Refuser Solidarity Network
SchNEWS
Socialist Unity Network
The New Standard
UK Chagos Support Association
UK Watch
Weekly Worker
Wikipedia
WriteToThem.com
Z-Net

The Progressive Blog Alliance

Register here to join the PBA.