British Indian Ocean Territory

Lord Avebury Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Avebury (LD)]

My Lords, I congratulate warmly the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, on securing this debate and on all the hard work that she has put into securing a just solution for the problems of the Chagos Islands and their inhabitants over many years.

I agree with the noble Baroness in welcoming the feasibility study on resettlement of the Chagos Islands announced by the Government last week, and I also agree with her that the consultants should be invited to produce their final report in time for the policy review to be carried out, and conclusions reached on it, before the 2015 general election campaign. That was the view expressed by the Chagossians themselves in their response to the initial consultation published by the FCO in September, and by the chairman of the All-Party Group on the Chagos Islands in a letter to the Foreign Secretary of 16 July—a reply to which, I am sorry to say, has yet to be received.

One would hope that there would be consensus between the political parties on the absolute right of the inhabitants to return to the homeland from which their ancestors were unlawfully evicted almost half a century ago. Certainly, my right honourable friend the Deputy Prime Minister has always been strongly supportive of the rights of the Chagossians, and I am sure that he would have a major input into the policy review if it took place this side of the election. I can say much the same about the right honourable gentleman the Foreign Secretary, who was always supportive of the rights of the Chagossians when his party was in opposition. I therefore hope that when the policy review is conducted the coalition will come to the conclusion that we all hope for: namely, that the Chagossians should have that right of return. However, if the feasibility study does not take place this side of the election and the review has not been held by the time the campaign begins, the principle of those rights, and the attitude of the parties to it, would obviously be factors to be considered by the British electorate in deciding how to vote in 2015.

The only factor mentioned in the ministerial Statement as needing to be considered, other than the practicality of resettlement, is whether the presence of the Ilois on the outer islands, 140 miles from Diego Garcia, would have any adverse effects on the operations of the US base. We know from WikiLeaks that the US embassy did not respond to an FCO request to,

“affirm that the USG requires the entire BIOT for defense purposes”.

The embassy received the famous assurance from the FCO’s director of overseas territories, Colin Roberts, that there would be no “Man Fridays” on the BIOT’s uninhabited islands. It would be useful if the Government would now cancel that 2009 undertaking and obtain an assurance from the Americans that they would have no objections under the UK/US 1966 exchange of letters to a repopulation of the outer islands. There is no reason why this clarification should be deferred until the feasibility study has reported, as the ministerial Statement appears to suggest. The obvious peg for the matter to be settled is when the 1966 agreement comes up for renewal in 2014.

Picking up the point made by the noble Baroness, there is no mention of Mauritius being consulted at the stage when preliminary views were sought on the feasibility study, in spite of the fact that we are committed to returning the islands to Mauritian sovereignty when they are no longer required for defence purposes. Yet we are nearing the point when major decisions will be made about the future of the Chagossian people and of the Chagos Islands, in which it is inconceivable that Mauritius, as the future sovereign power, would not be involved.

There is an appeal pending in a case brought by Mauritius against the UK under the international Convention on the Law of the Sea, to be heard in mid-2014, which is indirectly about the UK’s failure to consult Mauritius on the declaration of the BIOT as a marine protected area—the motivation for which, as we now know from the WikiLeaks cable, was to make resettlement impossible.

There is also an appeal to be heard in March 2014, in a case brought by Monsieur Olivier Bancoult on behalf of the Chagossians, challenging the consultation process on the MPA, where the High Court had ruled that the WikiLeaks cables were inadmissible as evidence. It would be a disaster for justice, not just for the Chagossians, if this decision was upheld, but I hope that neither of these cases will be used as a reason for boycotting the Mauritians now, thereby risking further litigation in the future.

As my noble friend is aware from our correspondence, I strongly believe that we should attempt to engage Mauritius in a dialogue about the future management of the islands and of the MPA, both of which will ultimately be its responsibility. Certainly, Mauritius should be invited to comment on the draft terms of reference for the feasibility study, including in particular the proposed timeframe, which was discussed so ably by the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker.

I also suggest that to help break the ice, the new BIOT science adviser, Dr Mark Spalding, who seems ideally suited to the task, along with scientists on the BIOT Science Advisory Group, should have a meeting with their Mauritian counterparts to discuss a joint approach to the MPA and the science of Chagos, sharing data, current research and scientific measurements. The draft terms of reference of the feasibility study make it clear that the MPA can be amended. Revising it now, in consultation with Mauritius and with the Chagossians to take account of their interests, would potentially save much trouble in the future.