Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2023 to Question 190052 on British Indian Ocean Territory: Resettlement, whether his Department has ever considered the people removed from the British Indian Ocean Territory in the 1960s to have been inhabitants of that Territory.

The UK has made clear its deep regret about the manner in which Chagossians were removed from the British Indian Ocean Territory in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The islands were uninhabited until the French established copra plantations using enslaved people specifically brought to the Archipelago for this purpose from 1793. In 1814, the islands were ceded to the UK by France.

Over time, workers were recruited from Asia and Africa. By the time of their removal, all those on the islands were employees of the copra plantations or family members of an employee and were present on the islands because of the circumstances of that employment