European Court of Human Rights’ decision on Chagossian Case
The Foreign Secretary has commented on the European Court of Human Rights’ decision on the Chagos Islanders v. the United Kingdom case.
The case concerns complaints made by the Chagos Islanders arising from the evacuation of the British Indian Ocean Territory between 1967 and 1973.
The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said:
We welcome the end of this legal process, which has taken many years. We have made clear our regret for the wrongs done to the Chagossian people over forty years ago. Nevertheless, it was right for the Government to defend itself against this action.
Now that this litigation is concluded, the Government will take stock of our policy towards the resettlement of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), as we have always said we would. There are fundamental difficulties with resettlement in BIOT, but we will be as positive as possible in our engagement with Chagossian groups and all interested parties.
Further Information
The European Court of Human Rights decision on application 35622/04: Chagos Islanders v. the United Kingdom can be found here