Chagos Archipelago

The Chagos Archipelago ( or ) or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls in the Indian Ocean. The atolls are made up of more than 60 individual islands. The islands are located about  south of Maldives.  

The British government separated the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, creating a new colony in Africa, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). To avoid accountability to the United Nations for its continued colonial rule, the UK falsely claimed that the Chagos had no permanent population.

On 25 February 2019, in an advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice found that the United Kingdom illegally separated the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius after its independence in 1968. 

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on May 22, 2019, commanding Great Britain to return the Chagos Archipelago to the Republic of Mauritius within six months, which would allow Chagossians to recover their land, but Great Britain refused to comply.

On 3 October 2024, the UK Government made a joint statement with the Mauritian government that they had negotiated for the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands following two years of negotiation whilst still enabling the running of the American military base in occupied Diego Garcia. Chagossians weren’t directly involved in the negotiations.

Following resumed negotiations a treaty was signed on 22 May 2025 that will formally transfer the sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius once it comes into effect, while the Diego Garcia military base remains under British control during a 99-year lease. On May 23, 2025, India welcomed the agreement between the United Kingdom and Mauritius for the transfer of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, describing it as an important step in completing the decolonization of the island nation "in the spirit of international law and a rules-based order".

The agreement may be renewed for an additional 40 years after the initial 99-year period, and for an additional period thereafter.

In June 2025, UN experts called for the suspension of a recently signed agreement between the United Kingdom and Mauritius, warning that it failed to protect the rights of the displaced Chagossian people. “By maintaining a foreign military presence of the United Kingdom and the United States on Diego Garcia and preventing the Chagossian people from returning… the agreement appears to be in contradiction with the Chagossian right of return,” according to the experts. The experts criticized the lack of provisions allowing access to cultural sites or the preservation of the Chagossian heritage. They called on the two countries to renegotiate the restitution agreement, stating, “We call for the suspension of ratification of the agreement and the negotiation of a new agreement that fully guarantees the rights of the Chagossian people”.

Related pages
Chagossians

References

Category:Archipelagos
Category:Territorial disputes
Category:Islands of Asia