Ludford welcomes Chagos court ruling

5.19.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 23rd May 2007

London's Liberal Democrat MEP and vice-chair of the European Parliament's human rights sub-committee Baroness Sarah Ludford today expressed satisfaction and relief that the Court of Appeal has rejected a UK government bid to stop the people of the Chagos islands returning home.

The Chagossians were evicted by Britain from their homelands in the Indian Ocean nearly 40 years ago so that the US could put a naval and air base on the largest island, Diego Garcia. This has recently been mentioned as a possible 'black site' holding terrorist suspects without charge or trial.

Baroness Ludford has met Olivier Bancoult, leader of the Chagos Refugees Group and his lawyers and supporters, and has been working to bring the case of the Chagos islanders to the attention of the European Parliament's human rights sub-committee. She said:

"After decades of brave struggle and heart-breaking hardship, the Chagossians are finally being given the justice they deserve. It is high time that this Labour government put the human rights of British people ahead of the military demands of the American government."

"The treatment of the Chagos islanders at the hands of successive UK governments has been inhumane and unprincipled. Today's ruling must close the door on this squalid period in British history. The government should accept this ruling, stop trying to wriggle out of their legal obligations, and help the Chagossians resettle."

Note:

The Chagossians were uprooted through brutality and trickery from their Indian Ocean island home in the late 1960s by their colonial 'protector' Britain, in order that the government of Harold Wilson could give the biggest of their islands, Diego Garcia, to the Americans for use as a military base. They faced poverty, suicide and breakdown in Mauritius where they were dumped. Victory in court action in the last 8 years has given the islanders hope of return, but the British government keeps defying the courts and is playing cat and mouse with the Chagossians. It adds insult to injury that while Chagossians have not been allowed to return home, Diego Garcia is populated by Americans and workers from Singapore and the Philippines.

For further information see the UK Chagos Support Association website:

http://www.chagossupport.org.uk/