UN 'concerned' by deal handing control of Chagos Islands to Mauritius

The United Nations has urged Britain and Mauritius not to ratify a deal under which London will pass sovereignty of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Port Louis.

Its Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination says the agreement perpetuates the long-standing violations of the rights of Chagossian people.

Up to 2,000 of them were forcibly removed from the largest island, Diego Garcia, in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for a joint British-United States military installation.

Many of them ended up in Britain, some of whom have sought the right to return.

Under the new deal, Britain would continue to hold on to the strategic airbase through a 99-year lease, with the possibility of a 40-year extension.

The UN says the agreement explicitly prevents Chagossians from returning to their ancestral homelands on Diego Garcia.

It says the agreement also does not formally acknowledge past injustices, provide full reparation for harms, or allow the islands to preserve their distinct cultural heritage.

The committee called on the two countries to resume negotiations with the Chagossian people, and to guarantee full reparations.

In 2019, the World Court urged Britain to return the islands to Mauritius saying its continued separation of the islands from Mauritius violated the Chagossian people's right to self-determination.