The UK Chagos Support Association

The UK government’s plans to set up a Marine Protected Area (MPA) around the Chagos islands have come under further criticism – this time from the government of Mauritius. The AFP news agency is reporting that the Mauritian PM, Navin Chandra Ramgoolam, raised his concerns with Gordon Brown at the recent Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Mauritian government claims sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago and so it is perhaps unsurprising that Mauritius should seek to find fault with UK policy towards the islands. Nevertheless, the wording of Mr Ramgoolam’s assault can be seen as significant:

“During a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, I made it clear to him that discussions on a protected marine parc around the Chagos ignoring exiled Chagossians’ right of return and Mauritius’ sovereign right over the archipelago are out of the question,” Ramgoolam said.

Mr Ramgoolam’s statement adds a new layer to the existing criticism, voiced by the UK Chagos Support Association and others, that the UK government’s insistence on separating the issue of environmental protection from the wider context is bizarre, underhand, and unsustainable. Of course, the relationship between the Chagossians and the Mauritian government has a long and complicated history. However, this latest intervention is welcome in that it provides yet another example of how isolated the UK government has become on the MPA issue and on the question of the Chagossians’ right of return.

The FCO needs to go back to the drawing board on the MPA idea. It should come back with a credible consultation process that would include the Chagossians and set the issue of environmental protection alongside the Chagossians’ right of return; it’s current approach is rapidly being exposed as sneaky and self-serving and seems to be finding favour in precious few corners.

Just a quick post to remind people that they can follow the UK Chagos Support Association on Facebook and on Twitter. Please do follow us via these media, as the more noise we can make about the Chagossians and their campaign to return home – the better!

PS – people are still encouraged to get in touch with the FCO (details below) as part of their “consultation” on establishing a Marine Protection Area around the Chagos islands. We mustn’t let the government succeed in using the environment as a way of burying the Chagossians’ campaign; everybody agrees on the importance of protecting the Chagos archipelago’s environment, it’s just that some of us think that the indigenous people of the islands should be the ones doing the protecting!

Further to yesterday’s post, the Foreign Office has given detailed instructions on how to respond to its consultation on whether or not to establish a Marine Protected Area (MPA) around the Chagos islands. One passage of the Consultation Document requires highlighting:

“Any decision to establish a marine protected area would be taken in the context of the Government’s current policy on the Territory, following the decision of the House of Lords in R (Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2008] UKHL 61 that the British Indian Ocean Territory (Constitution) Order 2004 and the British Indian Ocean Territory (Immigration) Order 2004 are lawful; i.e., there is no right of abode in the Territory and all visitors need a permit before entering the Territory. Access to a part of the Territory is also restricted under our Treaty obligations with the US. It is the Government’s provisional view, therefore, that we would not establish a permanent research facility in any part of the Territory. Any decision to establish a marine protected area would not affect the UK Government’s commitment to cede the Territory to Mauritius when it is no longer needed for defence purposes.”

This passage reveals a serious flaw in the consultation process: any proposal for the environmental protection of Chagos that includes the establishment of a permanent settlement is already off the table. The government is simply refusing to even consider this. Therefore, the consultation is effectively closed off to anybody who believes that the best way to protect the environment of the Chagos archipelago is to allow the indigenous population of the islands – the Chagossians – to return and be able to act as stewards.

By automatically dismissing any proposal for environmental protection that includes a permanent settlement – Chagossian or not – the FCO is effectively admitting just how thin its commitment to the environmental protection of Chagos really is. The government is openly and unashamedly prioritising a strict and rigid adherence to its “no right of abode” mantra over finding a pragmatic solution to the serious problem of environmental degradation in the region. Surely, the government is beginning proceedings from completely the wrong starting point?

This cynical move from the FCO must not be allowed to go unchallenged. Everybody agrees that the environment of the Chagos islands should be protected, but it is completely wrong for the government to conduct that discussion in a way that excludes the Chagossians. Rather, the case for resettlement must be made. After all, who better than the Chagossians, the indigenous people of the archipelago, to care for and protect the environment there?

If you would like to respond to the Foreign Office’s consultation and tell them that they won’t succeed in marginalising the Chagossians, then here’s how to do so:

(i) Write to:
BIOT marine protected area consultation
Overseas Territories Directorate
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH

(ii) E-mail your response to: biotmpaconsultation@fco.gov.uk

You can also comment on Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s own blog by following this link.

The consultation period will run until 12 February 2010.