WWhen Laurenza Piron was forced to leave her home in the Chagos Islands in 1970, she was sent by boat to the Seychelles. His parents and siblings were sent to Mauritius. It was two decades before they relocated, and none of them could even afford a meeting. So Piron, now 76, never saw his family again.
“I wanted to go, but I didn’t have money,” Piron says. “The compensation should have been paid. If that were the case, there would be no shortage. “
Piron was one of 1,500 people forced to leave the Chagos Islands, in the Indian Ocean archipelago, by the US and British military. The United Kingdom, which owns the land, had leased the largest island, Diego Garcia, in the U.S. to build a military base.
Last year, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that continued British occupation of the islands was illegal.
In the 1970s, the United Kingdom granted the Mauritian government £ 4.65 million to distribute to the Chagossians in compensation, but no money was paid to people sent to the Seychelles.
The exiles hope to change as they file a new petition under the U.S. Foreign Claims Act, which provides compensation for injuries, deaths or damage to non-combatant property by U.S. military personnel in the United States. ‘foreigner.
“Based on the [2019] The UN decision is that there is illegal occupation of the Chagos Islands, “says Jonathan Levy, a U.S.-based lawyer representing the Chagosians in the petition.” We are telling the government: you owe damage to the Chagos Islands. Chagossian people for operating a military base on their property “.
In October, the U.S. Air Force Department rejected a first attempt, stating, “It has been determined that payment of the claims is not in the interest of the U.S. government.” However, the legal team is planning new legal action after President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January.
“The incoming Biden administration is trying to change U.S. foreign policy, and the Chagos archipelago is a good place to start by recognizing the claims of the Chagossians over their properties and lands and paying a small restitution, given the ‘Diego Garcia’s immense use of income-free use has provided the United States for the past five decades, “says Levy.
Travel brochures depict the Seychelles as an island paradise, an oasis of golden beaches and crystal clear waters. But for the Chagossians it has been a place of discrimination, poverty and homelessness.
When Piron first came to the Seychelles with her husband and three children, they slept on the ground under a coconut tree.
“To go to school without shoes would take an hour to walk there,” says Laurenza’s son Jean-Joseph, 55, who was five when he arrived on the island. “On the way, we picked fruit from the trees and this would be our breakfast because we didn’t have money to eat. Concentrating on the lessons was impossible on an empty stomach, ”he explains, in tears.
France establishes a colony
Diego Garcia receives the home of a French colony that uses slave labor on the plantations
Britain takes control
Mauritius and the Chagos Islands are ceded to Britain at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in the Treaty of Paris
It is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory
Before granting independence to Mauritius, the United Kingdom separated the Chagos archipelago from Mauritius, creating the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).
Military agreement with the USA
Britain allows the US to use the largest island, Diego Garcia, as a military base in exchange for a discount on the purchase of Polaris missiles.
The expulsions begin
The forced expulsion of some 1,500 Chagossians begins as access to food supplies is restricted. Most move to Mauritius or the Seychelles.
Compensation is offered
Chagossian refugees from Mauritius were paid compensation, and more offers followed depending on whether they signed agreements not to return home.
Resettlement in the United Kingdom
Some Chagossians are granted British passports. Many move from Mauritius to Crawley. A UK government feasibility study on resettlement concludes that it would be expensive and difficult.
Wikileaks revelations
A protected marine area is established around the Chagos Islands. Documents released by Wikileaks show a UK diplomat that “the establishment of a marine park would, in effect, mean payment for the resettlement claims of former residents of the archipelago.”
Government actions were declared illegal
The International Court of Justice ruled that the agreement to separate the Chagos Islands from Mauritius in 1965 before decolonization was illegal.
Many Chagossians from the Seychelles were mocked by the locals and told to return from where they came from. They were called go to, which meant uncivilized, dirty and unvaccinated.
The family has always struggled to get the two bosses. Piron’s husband found work as a fisherman, and finally the family was able to build a small farm in the woods, not far from the coconut trees where they had slept.
“We never ran out of food at [Chagos] islands. If we needed fish, we would go get them from the ocean, ”says Piron, but adds,“ Life is hard here, very hard. I fight. “
Georgette Gendron, 67, of Diego Garcia, arrived in the Seychelles at the age of 12 with her parents and five siblings. With nowhere to go, the whole family lived in a narrow single room in the basement of a relative’s house.
“There was no house, no food, nothing. Can you imagine being told to go, out of place, with all those kids? We were just like refugees, ”says Gendron. “My mother was very miserable. He had health problems. There was a time when my father didn’t have a job. “
Cyril Bertrand, 72, was in the Seychelles for medical treatment when the Chagos Islands closed. His family – seven brothers and his father – were sent to Mauritius.
“The military pursued my family with weapons. They didn’t want to leave the island. It’s a sad story, “he says.
Bertrand settled in the Seychelles, got married, found work and was one of the few who could afford to visit his family in Mauritius. Many Chagossians are not so lucky, he says.
Many of the first generation of the exiled population are elderly, poor and accept the prospect of never seeing their homeland again. “Most die here in the Seychelles,” Bertrand says. “It simply came to our notice then. Even though they have a family there. “
In 2016, the British government introduced a £ 40 million support package for community projects for Chagossians living in the UK, Mauritius and the Seychelles, to be paid for a decade. So far less than 2% of this fund has been distributed.
The Chagosossians interviewed said they had not benefited from the money.
“Compensation would mean we could have a better life here,” Gendron says. “Errors need to be corrected. What about justice? “
Subscribe to the Global Dispatch newsletter: a fortnightly summary of our featured news, recommended readings, and our team’s opinions on key development and human rights issues: