Chagossians

The Chagossians (also Îlois or Chagos Islanders) are people who previously lived on the Chagos Islands. They are of African, Indian and Malay ancestry. They lived on Diego Garcia, Peros Banhos and the Salomon island chain, as well as other islands. They were forcibly removed from the islands by the British government in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This was done at the request of the United States government, so that Diego Garcia could become a military base. Most Chagossians now live in Mauritius and the United Kingdom. No Chagossians live in the Chagos Islands anymore, as it is now the site of the military base Camp Justice.

The Chagossians are mostly descended from African people, particularly from Madagascar, Mozambique and Mauritius. There is also a significant proportion of Indian and Malay ancestry.^[1] The French brought some to the Chagos islands as slaves from Mauritius in 1786. Others arrived as fishermen, farmers, and coconut plantation workers during the 19th century.

The Chagossians speak Chagossian Creole, a creole language based on French. It has words that come from various African and Asian languages. It is part of the Bourbonnais Creole family. Chagossian Creole is still spoken by some of their descendants in Mauritius and Seychelles. Chagossian people living in the UK speak English.

The British government separated the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, creating a new colony in Africa, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). To avoid accountability to the United Nations for its continued colonial rule, the UK falsely claimed that the Chagos had no permanent population.^[2]

resettlement, and the identity of the Chagossian people remains an unresolved issue^[3]

On 22 May 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution [86] asking the United Kingdom to surrender the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius within six months.

A Chagossian resettlement plan, supervised by international experts, will be discussed in June 2025^[4]

In June 2025, UN experts called for the suspension of a recently signed agreement between the United Kingdom and Mauritius, warning that it failed to protect the rights of the displaced Chagossian people. “By maintaining a foreign military presence of the United Kingdom and the United States on Diego Garcia and preventing the Chagossian people from returning… the agreement appears to be in contradiction with the Chagossian right of return,” according to the experts. The experts criticized the lack of provisions allowing access to cultural sites or the preservation of the Chagossian heritage. They called on the two countries to renegotiate the restitution agreement, stating, “We call for the suspension of ratification of the agreement and the negotiation of a new agreement that fully guarantees the rights of the Chagossian people”.^[5]