Chagos Islanders will not be allowed home

Are these the same people the UK govt secretly lobbied against to make their islands a protected zone (ergo creating a defacto you cant go back).

If so, its disgraceful
 
On the positive side it does mean a more pristine environment...

It's a shame they can't go home (and that there is a huge US navy base there), but the underwater environment will have benefited massively from it.
 
A lot of them were forced to move to Mauritius too. A lot just want to go back where they come from, where they grew up, where their parents are from. I am not au fait with everything, but a lot were essentially denied entry back into the island when back from foreign trips and when deported, were not given assistance, and have been living in relative poverty since. I find that incredibly unfair to them.
 
Conspiracy i tell you, according to the internet the US gov is holding MH370 on the island....................



On a more serious note, even if the people did go back i doubt they would want to stick around, the place will have changed beyond recognition.
 
They shouldn't have been removed, and when they were they should have been treated better.

But I don't believe that means they should go back. They would have done well to try and integrate with society elsewhere (either here in the UK, or in a more familiar place like Mauritius) and build a new life, rather than focussing on the past. Moving them back, building a modern society on those islands, would be hellishly expensive, and there's a considerable chance that they won't thrive there now.
 
Eek, moved from tropical paradise to just outside Gatwick. Bum deal.

Still, have to look at the practicalities here and now. Has the community in London grown to a larger size than it would have had they stayed on the islands? Could they sustain a community there of that size with adequate healthcare, education etc. Or the other way round, if not enough people wanted to actually settle back there would it be too small to support a population? A few generations in they may all have 12 toes!

Crappy what was done - compensation to the original families, money for their community to setup/maintain a social centre and sort out some deal so folks can go visit. I'd imagine what the US pay the UK government for the use of it would more than cover it!

Edit: Also I'd ensure if they can't settle there no-one can outside the Airbase and at the very least allow the islands to flourish as nature reserves
 
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Washout said:
Edit: Also I'd ensure if they can't settle there no-one can outside the Airbase and at the very least allow the islands to flourish as nature reserves
Click to expand...

We tried that. It didn't go down very well. Mauritius believes Chagos to be part of their territory, and we've promised to give it back to them once we're done using it for military means (i.e. probably never). The attempt to put in place a Marine Protected Area was overruled by the Court of Arbitration as it was seen as an attempt by us to limit Mauritius's rights to their own territory - a claim backed up by leaked Wikileaks cables. The terms of the MPA basically stated that nobody can go there and fish etc. except the military personnel at Diego Garcia or those with a permit from the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Bit of a shame in some ways, as Mauritius potentially now has the right to not only fish there, but to also explore for oil, build tourist resorts, etc. But it was a cynical attempt by us to prevent anyone from ever settling there - our intentions weren't noble.
 
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This stood out to me from the article. Government says they're getting £40m compensation over the next ten years. "Over the next ten years" sounds a bit odd so a little further reading and we find:

"This money is going to be spent on training and also how to alleviate poverty in certain communities. We will need discuss further how this money will be spent to change the lives of our people."

So if it's anything like my experiences with government spending it will be sidling a large chunk of that money into layers of profit skimming by the companies hired to oversee the companies that are hired to do requirements for the agencies that will recruit someone to go out and do surveys and make recommendations. At the end of all this a playground will be built somewhere vaguely close to where the islanders now live and a few people will pat each other on the back for the cameras in the local paper.

Not that I'm cynical or anything.
 
RaohNS said:
Are these the same people the UK govt secretly lobbied against to make their islands a protected zone (ergo creating a defacto you cant go back).

If so, its disgraceful
Click to expand...

Yes, they were sold out for the US basically.

Utterly shameful treatment.
 
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