Introducing Labour Friends of Chagos Islanders

By Kieran Roberts

At a time when our party is in a phase of renewal, now is a rare opportunity to change some of the more regrettable policies we adopted whilst in government. Such a policy is one that has endured as far back as Harold Wilson’s government – our policy on the Chagos Islands.

In the 1970s, the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands were forced from their homes in order to make way for a US military base on the island Diego Garcia. This relic of the Cold War era still remains, as does the injustice towards Chagossians.

Currently the Chagossians have no right to return to their homes. Whilst the last Labour government showed a commitment to the conservation of the Chagos Islands in making provisions for a Marine Protected Area, this erected a barrier to any resettlement. However, for the legitimacy and longevity of the MPA and ensuring preservation, the right to return must be given to the Chagossians; conservation and human rights go hand in hand.

Our policy over the past four decades has allowed this breach of human rights to endure and it is a stain on our record that has to be removed. Now is a better time than any.

Labour Friends of Chagos Islanders campaigns for justice; the restoration of the Chagos Islanders’ right to return and for a Marine Protected Area in the Chagos archipelago that makes provision for resettlement. It does so with all interested parties, including Chagossian groups and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Chagos Islands.

To show your support, please join our Facebook group. For more information visit our website, or email [email protected].