On the final day before Parliament was dissolved, the UK government has released a new statement on the future of the Chagos Islands. The full statement can be read here. In May, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly that the UK should cede control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius within six months. This came after an International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict which judged UK sovereignty of the islands was not legally established by international law, due to the ma

On Wednesday the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will vote on a resolution which states that the UK must abandon the administration of the Chagos Islands as rapidly as possible. The vote comes after the judgement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in February, which concluded the creation of the British Indian Ocean Territory (the formal UK government name for the Chagos Islands) was illegal, as it involved the UK government detaching the islands from Mauritiu

After four days of public hearings, beginning on 3 rd September at The International Court of Justice (ICJ), in The Hague, the judges are currently deliberating the case of Mauritius’s dispute with the UK over sovereignty of the Chagos islands. The Court heard testimonies from representatives of 22 countries, plus those from the African Union, arguing the legality of the colonial-era deal and the rights of the displaced Chagos Islanders to resettle. The ICJ’s judgement is adv

On the 3rd September the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hear what is officially "a request for an advisory opinion" from on the "legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965." The case comes to the ICJ after a United Nations General Assembly vote last year referred the dispute between Mauritius and the UK to the Court. The case was brought to the UN by Mauritius, as part of an ongoing sovereignty dispute with the UK over the

This week the Chagos Islands All-Party Parliamentary Group was addressed a special guest speaker at their regular meeting: the Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth. The below coordinator's summary is the meeting is as ever provided by David Snoxell, the coordinator of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Chagos Islands. The Chagos Islands (BIOT) All-Party Parliamentary Group held its 68th meeting on 16 April. At its invitation the Hon. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth

Two weeks ago the UN General Assembly (UNGA) voted in favour of seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with regards to the UK's sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. The motion was proposed by Mauritius and passed with 94 votes in favour. Fifteen countries voted against, while sixty five abstained. Since the vote, a cross-section of MPs from the SNP, the DUP, Plaid Cymru and the Labour Party, have submitted an Early Day Motion (EDM) to the Ho

The Chagos Islands and their exiled people have featured notably in Parliamentary proceedings over the past week or so. Firstly the government issued a statement in the reaction to the UN General Assembly vote to refer the UK to International Court of Justice. In a written statement, Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan said the UK would "robustly" defend its sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. The statement also referenced the Chagossian people, stating that: "The UN Res

The UN General Assembly has voted to refer the UK to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with regards to the validity of the nation's sovereignty claim over the Chagos Islands. The motion to refer the UK to the ICJ was proposed by Mauritius, which also holds a sovereignty claim over the Chagos Islands. Speaking prior to the vote, veteran Mauritian politician and Minister for Defence and Rodrigues Sir Anerood Jugnauth noted that he had spoken with Chagossians about the mo