Island’s unwelcome guests

Part-time UK judges uphold rights of Tamil asylum seekers in Diego Garcia

British lawyers are to make a rare visit to Diego Garcia in the Chagos archipelago next month to argue that the remote British overseas territory is unlawfully detaining Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers.

The visit was opposed by the former colony’s commissioner, Paul Candler, a career civil servant who administers the territory from the Foreign Office in London. But judges appointed by Candler dismissed his appeal last month in a case that raises fascinating legal issues.

Diego Garcia is a coral atoll — a ribbon of land almost enclosing a lagoon. Located approximately halfway between East Africa and Indonesia, it is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, which was established in 1965 when 58 islands were detached from Mauritius.

All the territory’s former residents were expelled in the early 1970s on “instructions from ministers in London”. In 2019, the International Court of Justice advised the UN that the “decolonisation of Mauritius was not lawfully completed in 1968” and “the UK was under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible”.

The island is home to a joint US-UK military base housing some 4000 service personnel and military contractors. Other visitors are not definitely welcome, as the territory’s website makes clear.

The British Indian Ocean Territory is not a tourist destination. Access is restricted and a permit is required in advance of travel. There are no commercial flights and permits for yachts are only issued to allow safe passage through the Indian Ocean (Outer Islands only). Access to Diego Garcia is only permitted to those with connections either to the military facility or to the territory’s administration.

And yet Diego Garcia is now home to around 60 Tamil refugees, including some 16 children.

In September 2021, they left India on a fishing boat, ambitiously hoping to reach Canada. Ten days later their boat ran into difficulties and they were escorted by the Royal Navy to Diego Garcia.

Until recently, they were confined to a fenced-in area the size of a football pitch. They live in communal tents and are guarded by a private security firm.

Following attempts at self-harm and suicide, five of the migrants were sent to Rwanda for medical treatment under the UK’s migration and economic development partnership agreement. Two were later returned to Diego Garcia.

UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, visited the territory last November and compiled a highly critical report. Its conclusions have been circulated, though the report itself has not been formally published,