International Court of Justice Rules British Occupation
of the Chagos Islands Illegal

Refusal to Uphold International Rule of Law Is a Serious Matter of Concern

Protest outside British Parliament after a court ruling barring Chagos Islanders from returning to their homeland, October 22, 2008.

TML Weekly welcomes the February 25 ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Chagos Islands. In a majority decision of 13 to 1, with all the judges from EU countries amongst those finding against the UK, the ICJ ruled that the continued British occupation of the Chagos Islands is illegal and ordered the UK to return the islands to Mauritius "as rapidly as possible." The islands were seized by the British in 1965 and the people forcibly removed in 1971 to permit the U.S. to build a military base on the island of Diego Garcia. This base plays a criminal role in the U.S. striving for world hegemony.

The British Parliament immediately rejected the ruling. A Foreign Office spokesperson gave the following self-serving response on February 25, "This is an advisory opinion, not a judgment. Of course, we will look at the detail of it carefully. The defence facilities on the British Indian Ocean Territory help to protect people here in Britain and around the world from terrorist threats, organized crime and piracy."

Former British diplomat Craig Murray scoffed at this announcement, "This represents a serious escalation in the UK's rejection of multilateralism and international law and a move towards joining the U.S. model of exceptionalism, standing outside the rule of international law. As such, it is arguably the most significant foreign policy development for generations. In the Iraq war, while Britain launched war without UN Security Council authority, it did so on a tenuous argument that it had Security Council authority from earlier resolutions. The UK was therefore not outright rejecting the international system. On Chagos it is now simply denying the authority of the International Court of Justice; this is utterly unprecedented." (See article below.)

The ICJ is the UN's highest court, and the longstanding injustice against the Chagos Islanders was referred to it by the General Assembly in June 2017, vis-a-vis the UN process of decolonization, by a vote of 94 to 15 in favour of a resolution from Mauritius. In its 2018 submission to the ICJ, Mauritius' lawyers argued it was coerced into giving up the Chagos Islands, in breach of 1960 UN Resolution 1514, which specifically bans the breakup of colonies before independence.

The ICJ ruling has no binding status but for the British to dispute it is not acceptable. As Craig Murray points out, Britain is outrightly flouting the International Rule of Law and this is a matter of serious concern because nothing justifies British and U.S. crimes against humanity committed in the name of high ideals.

When the British seized the islands, Diego Garcia was the largest and only inhabited island in the British Indian Ocean Territory, usually abbreviated as "BIOT." The British brutally expelled the total population of the atoll -- Chagossians or Chagos Islanders -- to facilitate the establishment of the U.S. military base. Today Diego Garcia is one of the five control bases for the Global Positioning System operated by the United States military.[1] The island provided a "fixed aircraft carrier" for the U.S. during the Iranian revolution (1978-1979), the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait (1990), Operation Enduring Freedom (the U.S. global "war on terror," 2001-2014) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2011). The atoll shelters the ships of the U.S. Marine Pre-Positioning Squadron Two. These ships carry equipment and supplies to support a major armed force with tanks, armoured personnel carriers, munitions, fuel, spare parts and even a mobile field hospital. Additionally, Diego Garcia was used as a storage section for U.S. cluster bombs as a detour from UK parliamentary oversight. The British government also colluded with the CIA to use the U.S. base for its extralegal renditions and torture.

Australian journalist and film-maker John Pilger has been one of the champions of the Chagos islanders. His 2004 film, Stealing a Nation, alerted much of the world to their plight. To view the film, click here.

Note

1. "The Mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370," Tony Seed, TML Weekly, April 19, 2014.

This article was published in

Volume 49 Number 10 - March 23, 2019

Article Link:
International Court of Justice Rules British Occupation : Refusal to Uphold International Rule of Law Is a Serious Matter of Concern

    

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