British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty

(asked on 24th April 2025) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution by the then Minister for Development on 26 February 2025, Official Report, column 873, who the 28 international judges and arbitrators are; and in (a) what context and (b) which institutions those opinions were given.


Answered by
Stephen Doughty Portrait
Stephen Doughty
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 8th May 2025

As well as the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion in 2019, an Arbitral Tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 2015 and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in 2021 have considered the sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago. None have expressed support for a United Kingdom claim to sovereignty.

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