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Diego Garcia is an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. It is a militarised atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, and the largest of the 60 small islands of the Chagos Archipelago. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to find it and it was then settled by the French in the 1790s and transferred to British rule after the Napoleonic Wars. It was one of the "Dependencies" of the British Colony of Mauritius until the Chagos Islands were detached for inclusion in the newly created British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 1965.
Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometres off the southeast coast of the African continent, 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 most of 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, Nelson's Island and Peros Banhos; towards its south-west are the Three Brothers, Eagle, Egmont and Danger Island(s); 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 Chagossians are an African ethnic group originating from French slaves brought to the Chagos Islands, specifically Diego Garcia, Peros Banhos, and the Salomon island chain, in the late 18th century. Most Chagossians now live in Mauritius 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, as it is now the site of the military base dubbed Camp Thunder Cove.
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an archipelago of 55 islands in the Indian Ocean, located south of India. It is situated approximately halfway between Africa and Indonesia. The islands form a semicircular group with an open sea towards the east. The largest, Diego Garcia, is located at the southern extreme end. It measures 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi) and accounts for almost three-quarters of the total land area of the territory. Diego Garcia is the only inhabited island and is home to the joint UK-US naval support facility. Other islands within the archipelago include Danger Island, Three Brothers Islands, Nelson Island, and Peros Banhos, as well as the island groups of the Egmont Islands, Eagle Islands, and the Salomon Islands.
The Salomon Islands or Salomon Atoll is a small atoll of the Chagos Archipelago, British Indian Ocean Territory.
The United Kingdom, at the request of the United States, began expelling the native inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago in 1968, concluding its forced deportations on 27 April 1973 with the evacuation of Peros Banhos atoll. The inhabitants, known at the time as the Ilois, are today known as Chagos Islanders or Chagossians.
Patrick Allen is the English author of Singing Matters, which won the Times Educational Supplement Schoolbook Award in 1999. He also won The Guardian Award for Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School in 2004 and the NUT Teacher Award for "inspirational leadership of a music group" at the 2015 National Festival of Music for Youth. Until July 2015, he worked as an Advanced Skills Teacher, based at Ifield Community College in Crawley, England where he was also Head of Music and Chair of Arts. He was awarded Advanced Skills Teacher status in 2001. Allen is a UK judge for the Teaching Awards, a music education consultant and a PhD research student at SOAS
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.
R v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, ex parte Bancoult [2008] UKHL 61 is a UK constitutional law case in the House of Lords concerning the removal of the Chagos Islanders and the exercise of the Royal Prerogative. The Chagos Islands, acquired by the United Kingdom in 1814, were reorganised as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 1965 for the purpose of removing its inhabitants. Under a 1971 Order in Council, the Chagossians were forcibly removed, and the central island of Diego Garcia leased to the United States for use as a military outpost.
Louis Olivier Bancoult is a Chagossian activist who is the leader of the Chagos Refugee Group (CRG).
Sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is disputed between Mauritius 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. The UK government has stated that it has "no doubt" about its sovereignty over the Chagos, yet has also said that the Chagos will be returned to Mauritius once the islands are no longer required for military purposes. Given the absence of any meaningful progress with the UK, Mauritius took up the matter at various legal and political forums. The African Union and the Non-Aligned Movement have expressed unanimous support for Mauritius.
The Chagos Islands national football team is a football team representing the territory of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. However, this area, which falls under the administration of the British Indian Ocean Territory, is uninhabited save for the presence of a US military base on the island of Diego Garcia, after the United Kingdom evicted the local population between 1967 and 1973. As a consequence, the team in fact represents the Chagossian diaspora around the world. They are led by Sussex-based manager Jimmy Ferrar, who has previously managed at Oakwood, Crawley Down and Alfold where he won the Southern Combination Div 1 for season 2018/19.
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 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, no-take 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.
Allen Vincatassin is a Chagossian activist who is the first and current President of the Diego Garcia and Chagos Islands Council. He was arrested and jailed in 2020 and 2021 for fraud.
Aurélie Marie-Lisette Talate, also known as Lisette Talate or Aurelie Talate in her community was a Chagossian activist and emblematic figure of the Chagossian struggle to regain their islands; which they were forcibly exiled from by the occupying US military with permission from the UK in order to establish the Diego Garcia military base. Despite strong desire from the community to return to their land, the US and UK governments have patently refused to allow right of return.
Same-sex marriage in the British Indian Ocean Territory has been legal since 3 June 2014. An Order in Council to legalise same-sex marriages was enacted by the Privy Council of the United Kingdom on 28 April 2014, and took effect on 3 June. The British Indian Ocean Territory, despite having no permanent population, was among the first British Overseas Territories to legalise same-sex marriage.
Clément Siatous is a Mauritian and British painter of Chagossian origin. He is known for his paintings depicting the daily life of the Chagossians before their exile.
Jessy Marcelin is a Chagossian musician and activist who was born in the Chagos Islands and forced to leave as part of Britain's displacement of the Chagossian people.
References
- 1 2 Sandhu, Serina (22 November 2019). "UK misses Chagos Islands deadline: 'My dad doesn't want to be buried in Britain – he wants to be buried at home'". inews. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
- 1 2 3 McVeigh, Karen (7 June 2019). "'I want to die on my native soil': exiled Chagos Islanders dream of return". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
- ↑ "Crawley Chagossians urged '˜to never lose hope' after devastating court ruling". Crawley Observer. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
- ↑ McDougall, John (5 December 2019). "Islanders in exile - the Chagos Islands national team". The Island Review. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
- ↑ Brooke, Samuel (13 July 2019). "Chagos Islanders face deportation threats in Crawley". The Argus. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
- ↑ Popham, Kristen (13 April 2020). "Half a Century After Their Deportation, Chagossians Employ Football and Community as Tools of Resistance". Pulizer Center. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
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