By Vanessa Yu 3/11/22
Image source: 'I travelled to Britain's last colony in Africa with the Islanders who want their home back'
Background
“We were like animals dying in that slave ship,” recalled Liseby Elysé, representing the people of the Chagos islands, before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in September 2018. “People were dying of sadness.”
The UK separated the Chagos Islands from Mauritius before granting it independence in 1968.
Elysé told a vivid story of how her blissful childhood was ruined when the British forcibly removed her entire population from the Chagos and deported them to Mauritius in order to claim sovereignty over the Islands and set up a new colony in the British Indian Ocean Territory. The British shut down plantations and cut off food supplies to the Islands. Her people were left with the option to either leave their homes or starve to death. In the midst of the horrendous deportation, Elysé lost a child in her womb.
What is Happening Now
Philippe Sands, barrister acting for the Mauritian government before the ICJ, argued that Britain’s removal of the Chagossians was illegal, as was the original severance of the islands from Mauritius to set up a colony.
Despite the effort made by British foreign secretaries, including Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt and Liz Truss, to cover up the Chagossians’ case and shield the last colonial activity of the empire from being subject to international justice, the ICJ ruled that Britain had acted unlawfully.
Professor Sands wrote “The Last Colony” as an account of the Chagos case. The book tells the story of Elysé, backed by Sands’ steely arguments and laced with empathy. Earlier this year, Sands, along with Elysé and a few other islanders, set foot on the Chagossian atoll of Peros Banhos. It has been half a century since any of the exiles could revisit their homeland.
What This Means to the Local Community and Wider Implications
Back in the 1945 Yalta Conference, PM Churchill proclaimed, “I will have no suggestion that the British empire is to be put in the dock and examined by everybody to see if it is up to their standard.” “Never. Never. Never… Every scrap of territory over which the British flag flies is immune.” Today, however, international justice has proven that the brutality of Britain’s colonisation can be subject to scrutiny.
On the island Sands and the group of Chagossians found a tarnished metal plaque engraved “trespassers will be prosecuted”, signed by the “British Indian Ocean Territory commissioner’s representative”. The tables have now turned. Britain is no longer in power to uphold this threat.
Sands has expressed his condemnation of the colonisation on the last page of his book, “I find it hard to repress the sense of fury at the wrongs that have been done here.” Yet, Britain appears to be too intractable to admit her wrongdoings. Notwithstanding the ruling of the ICJ that Britain had acted unlawfully, the British government has resisted all requests for resettlement. The government may be protecting the dignity of the empire by being intransigent, but it is no shame to have a dirty face – the shame comes when you keep it dirty.
What We Can Do to Help
We can all pay attention to and sympathise with victims of colonisation.
Sources
The Guardian, The Last Colony by Philippe Sands review – Britain’s Chagos Islands shame
The Spectator, Britain’s recent darkest hour: the betrayal of the Chagos Islands
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/britain-s-recent-darkest-hour-the-betrayal-of-the-chagos-islands
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