Awards and decorations
Mauritius:-
Grand Officer of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (2016) [5] -
Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (2021) [6]
-
Jagdish Dharmachand Koonjul | |
|---|---|
| Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations | |
| Assumed office 2015 | |
| In office 2001–2006 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 April 1952 |
Jagdish Dharamchand Koonjul,GCSK,GOSK,is the Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations,and was President of the United Nations Security Council in January 2002.
Koonjul was Mauritian chief representative to the United Nations Security Council from 2001 to 2002,and President of the United Nations Security Council in January 2002. He was Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations from 2001 to 2006. [1]
He served as Vice-President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council from 2003 to 2004. From 2003 to 2006 he served as Chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States,and from 2006 to 2011 as Ambassador/Head of Bilateral Directorate for Asia and the Middle East. [1] [2] [3]
Koonjul was Mauritian Ambassador to Belgium and Permanent Representative to the European Union from 2011 to 2015. [1] [4]
Since July 2015 Koonjul served as Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Mauritius. [1]
In November 2015,Koonjul was appointed Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations for a second time. [1]
In 2016,Koonjul was awarded Grand Officer of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (G.O.S.K) and later in 2022,the Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (G.C.S.K) for "valuable contribution in the field of diplomacy,particularly,for the effective completion of the decolonisation process of Mauritius." [5] [6]
In February 2022,Koonjul as Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations led a fifteen day Mauritian expedition to the islands of the Chagos Archipelago,which recent decisions by the International Court of Justice,United Nations General Assembly and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea had supported Mauritius' claim to the islands,rather than the United Kingdom's British Indian Ocean Territory claim. Exiled islanders made their first unsupervised visit to an island in the Chagos Archipelago. Prime Minister of Mauritius,Pravind Jugnauth,said this was not to embarrass the UK,but "merely an exercise of our sovereignty over part of our territory and that is in accordance with international law." [7]
Koonjul raised the Mauritian flag on Peros Banhos. [8] [9] The main purpose of the expedition was to survey the unclaimed Blenheim Reef,to discover if it is exposed at high tide so is claimable. [10] [11]
Mauritius:
Grand Officer of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (2016) [5] 
Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (2021) [6] Koonjul is married and has four children. [1]
Diego Garcia is the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago,part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). It has been used as a joint UK–U.S. military base since the 1970s,following the expulsion of the Chagossians by the UK government. The Chagos Islands have been a British overseas territory,but in early October 2024,the UK agreed to transfer sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius,while allowing the military base to remain under a 99-year lease,pending a treaty ratification.
Mauritius,officially the Republic of Mauritius,is an island country in the Indian Ocean,about 2,000 kilometres off the southeastern coast of East Africa,east of Madagascar. It includes the main island,as well as Rodrigues,Agaléga,and St. Brandon. The islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues,along with nearby Réunion,are part of the Mascarene Islands. The main island of Mauritius,where the population is concentrated,hosts the capital and largest city,Port Louis. The country spans 2,040 square kilometres (790 sq mi) and has an exclusive economic zone covering 2,300,000 square kilometres.
The Chagos Archipelago or Chagos Islands is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives archipelago. This chain of islands is the southernmost archipelago of the Chagos–Laccadive Ridge,a long submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean. In its north are the Salomon Islands,Nelsons Island and Peros Banhos;towards its south-west are the Three Brothers,Eagle Islands,Egmont Islands and Danger Island;southeast of these is Diego Garcia,by far the largest island. All are low-lying atolls,save for a few extremely small instances,set around lagoons.
Peros Banhos,Pedro dos Banhos or Baixos de Pêro dos Banhos in old maps,is a formerly inhabited atoll in the Chagos Archipelago of the British Indian Ocean Territory,also claimed by Mauritius.
The Outer Islands of Mauritius is the first-level administrative divisions of the country and consists of the islands of Mauritius and several outlying islands. The Outer Islands of Mauritius are managed under the aegis of the Prime Minister of Mauritius through Prime Minister's Office by the Outer Islands Development Corporation which is the authority empowered under the law to manage the Outer Islands of Mauritius. The Prime Minister is also Minister for Rodrigues,Outer Islands and Territorial Integrity. The Constitution of Mauritius states that the Republic of Mauritius includes the islands of Agaléga,Mauritius,Rodrigues,Saint Brandon,Tromelin Island,and the Chagos Archipelago. The Government of Mauritius claims sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago,which the United Kingdom split from its territories to create the British Indian Ocean Territory before its independence in 1968. Additionally,France shares a sovereignty claim over Tromelin Island,an uninhabited island between Madagascar and Mauritius's main island.
The Chagossians are an Afro-Asian ethnic group originating from freed African slaves brought to the Chagos Islands,specifically Diego Garcia,Peros Banhos,and the Salomon island chain,in the late 18th century as well as people of Asian descent. Under international law,they are the indigenous people of the Chagos archipelago. Most Chagossians now live in Mauritius,Seychelles,and the United Kingdom after being forcibly removed by the British government in the late 1960s and early 1970s so that Diego Garcia,the island where most Chagossians lived,could serve as the location for a United States military base. Today,no Chagossians are allowed to live on the island of Diego Garcia or anywhere in the Chagos archipelago,despite many of the islands they used to inhabit being over 160 kilometres (99 mi) away from Diego Garcia.
The Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .io is nominally assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory. The domain is managed by Internet Computer Bureau Ltd,a domain name registry,with registrar services provided by Name.com.
Blenheim Reef is a partly submerged atoll structure in the Chagos Archipelago,Indian Ocean. It includes the coral reef of Baxio Predassa in its southeastern rim,plus another completely submerged part. It is located in the northeastern part of the Chagos Archipelago. It measures almost eleven kilometres (north–south) by more than four kilometres (east–west),with a total area of 36.8 square kilometres,including the lagoon of 8.5 km2,the difference being accounted for the mostly by the reef flat. Only on the eastern side,there are a few sand cays above the water. The largest of them is East Island,which is not quite 200 metres long and 70 metres wide. The other islands in the group are North,Middle and South. Only a few grasses grow on the island. The lagoon is up to 18 metres deep and encumbered with rock. The fringing coral reef has a wide passage in the southwest. The closest land is Takamaka Island in the Salomon Islands Atoll,about 20 kilometres to the southwest.
The United Kingdom,at the request of the United States,began expelling the inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago in 1968,concluding its forced deportations on 27 April 1973 with the expulsion of the remaining Chagossians on the Peros Banhos atoll. The inhabitants,known at the time as the Ilois,are today known as Chagos Islanders or Chagossians.
Mauritius –United States relations are bilateral relations between Mauritius and the United States.
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean,halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 individual islands,many very small,amounting to a total land area of 60 square kilometres. The largest and most southerly island is Diego Garcia,27 square kilometres,the site of a Joint Military Facility of the United Kingdom and the United States. Official administration is remote from London,though the local capital is often regarded as being on Diego Garcia.
The Most Distinguished Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean is the highest distinct order of merit in the honours system of Mauritius established under the National Awards Act 1993. It was founded in 1992 to decorate people who have made a contribution to social progress in the nations of the Indian Ocean. It may be awarded to non-Mauritian citizens.
Rajkeswur Purryag,GCSK is a former Mauritian politician who served as the fifth president of Mauritius from 2012 to May 2015. He was elected president of Mauritius by the National Assembly and took office on 21 July 2012. He succeeded Sir Anerood Jugnauth,who spent nine years as president from 2003 until resigning in March 2012. Kailash Purryag previously served as Member of Parliament,Minister and Speaker of the National Assembly;he made his debut in the political arena at an early age in 1976.
Mauritius v United Kingdom was an arbitration case concerning the status of the Chagos Archipelago and the attempts of the United Kingdom government to create a Marine Protected Area in British Indian Ocean Territory. The dispute was arbitrated by a arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea. The Permanent Court of Arbitration was asked on 31 March 2011 to function as registry in the proceedings.
Sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is disputed between Mauritius,Maldives and the United Kingdom. Mauritius has repeatedly stated that the Chagos Archipelago is part of its territory and that the United Kingdom claim is a violation of United Nations resolutions banning the dismemberment of colonial territories before independence. On 22 May 2019,the United Nations General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution declaring that the archipelago was part of Mauritius;116 countries voted in favour of Mauritius while six opposed it.
The Chagos Marine Protected Area,located in the central Indian Ocean in the British Indian Ocean Territory of the United Kingdom,is one of the world's largest officially designated marine protected areas,and one of the largest protected areas of any type on Earth. It was established by the British government on 1 April 2010 as a massive,contiguous,marine reserve,it encompasses 640,000 square kilometres (250,000 sq mi) of ocean waters,including roughly 70 small islands and seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago.
RMAS Lodestone (A115) was a Magnet-class Royal Navy degaussing ship. She was completed in 1980 by the Clelands Shipbuilding Company.
The Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 is an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute in response to a request from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). In a 13–1 ruling,the Court deemed the United Kingdom's separation of the Chagos Islands from the rest of Mauritius in 1965,when both were colonial territories,to be unlawful and found that the United Kingdom is obliged to end "its administration of the Chagos Islands as rapidly as possible."
Events in the year 2022 in Mauritius.
Liseby Elysé is a Mauritian activist of Chagossian origin. She is known for her testimony before the International Court of Justice in 2019 in the case between Mauritius and the United Kingdom concerning sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago.