WWhen Laurenza Piron was forced to leave her home in the Chagos Islands in 1970, she was sent on a boat to the Seychelles. His parents and brothers were sent to Mauritius. Two decades passed before they were located again, and even then, none of them could afford a reunion. So Piron, now 76, never saw his family again.
“I wanted to go, but I had no money,” says Piron. “The compensation should have been paid. If I did, there wouldn’t be so many difficulties. “
Piron was among 1,500 people forced to leave the Chagos Islands, in the Indian Ocean archipelago, by the American and British military. The United Kingdom, which owns the land, rented the largest island, Diego Garcia, to the United States to build a military base.
Last year, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that the continued British occupation of the islands was illegal.
In the 1970s, the United Kingdom gave the Mauritian government £ 4.65 million to distribute to Chagossians in compensation, but no money was paid to people sent to Seychelles.
Exiles expect this to change as they file a new petition under the U.S. Foreign Claims Act, which awards compensation for injuries, death or property damage to non-combatants committed by American military personnel abroad.
“Based on [2019] The UN decision on the illegal occupation of the Chagos Islands, ”said Jonathan Levy, a lawyer based in the United States who represents Chagossians in the petition. “We are saying to the government: you owe damage to the Chagossian people for operating a military base on your property.”
In October, the US Air Force Department rejected a first attempt, declaring: “It has been determined that the payment of claims is not in the interest of the US government.” However, the legal team is planning a new lawsuit following the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden in January.
“The next Biden government seeks to change the foreign policy of the United States, and the Chagos archipelago is a good place to start by recognizing the Chagossians’ claims for their properties and land and paying a small refund, given the immense value of unrestricted use Diego Garcia has been supplying the United States for the past five decades, ”says Levy.
The travel brochures portray the Seychelles as an island paradise, an oasis of golden beaches and crystal clear waters. But for Chagossians, it has been a place of discrimination, poverty and homelessness.
When Piron first came to the Seychelles with her husband and three children, they slept on the floor under a coconut tree.
“To go to school without shoes, it would take an hour to walk there,” says Laurenza’s son Jean-Joseph, 55, who was five when he arrived on the island. “On the way, we were going to pick fruit from the trees and that would be our breakfast, because we had no money to eat. Concentrating on classes was impossible on an empty stomach, ”he explains, through tears.
France establishes colony
Diego Garcia is transformed into a home for a French colony that uses slave labor in the plantations
Britain takes control
Mauritius and the Chagos Islands are assigned to Great Britain at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in the Treaty of Paris
Becomes part of the British Indian Ocean Territory
Before independence was granted to Mauritius, the United Kingdom separated the Chagos archipelago from Mauritius, creating the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).
Military agreement with the USA
Britain allows the United States to use the largest island, Diego Garcia, as a military base in exchange for a discount on the purchase of Polaris missiles.
Expulsions begin
The forced expulsion of about 1,500 Chagossians begins because access to food is restricted. Most are transferred to Mauritius or Seychelles.
Compensation is offered
Chagossian refugees in Mauritius were compensated and more offers followed, as long as they signed agreements not to return to their homes.
Resettlement to the UK
British passports are granted to some Chagossians. Many move from Mauritius to Crawley. A UK government feasibility study on resettlement concluded that it would be expensive and difficult.
Wikileaks revelations
A Marine Protected Area is established around the Chagos Islands. Documents published by Wikileaks show a UK diplomat saying that “the establishment of a marine park would, in effect, put an end to the resettlement claims of former archipelago residents”.
Government actions considered illegal
The International Court of Justice ruled that the agreement to separate the Chagos Islands from Mauritius in 1965 before decolonization was illegal.
Many Chagossians in the Seychelles were insulted by the locals, instructed to return to where they came from. They were called anara, which meant uncivilized, dirty and unvaccinated.
The family has always struggled to survive. Piron’s husband found work as a fisherman, and eventually the family managed to build a small property in the forest, not far from the coconut trees where they had slept.
“There was never a shortage of food [Chagos] Islands. If we needed fish, we would get some from the ocean, ”says Piron, but she adds:“ Life is tough here, very difficult. I fight.”
Georgette Gendron, 67, of Diego Garcia, came to the Seychelles at the age of 12, with his parents and five siblings. With nowhere to go, the entire family lived in a small single room in the basement of a relative’s house.
“There was no home, no food, nothing. You can imagine being told to just go, with no place, with all those kids. We were like refugees, ”says Gendron. “My mother was very unhappy. She had health problems. There was a time when Dad didn’t have a job. “
Cyril Bertrand, 72, was in the Seychelles for medical treatment when the Chagos Islands were closed. His family – seven brothers and his father – was sent to Mauritius.
“The military pursued my family with firearms. They did not want to leave the island. It is a sad story, ”he says.
Bertrand settled in the Seychelles, got married, found a job and was among the few who could visit his family in Mauritius. Many Chagossians are not so lucky, he says.
Many of the first generation of the exiled population are elderly, poor and are accepting the prospect of never seeing their homeland again. “Most of them die here in the Seychelles,” says Bertrand. “They never arrive in Mauritius. Even though they have family there. “
In 2016, the British government unveiled a £ 40 million support package for community projects for Chagossians living in the UK, Mauritius and Seychelles, to be paid over a decade. So far, less than 2% of this fund has been distributed.
The Chagossians interviewed said they did not benefit from the money.
“Compensation would mean that we could have a better life here,” says Gendron. “Errors must be corrected. What about justice? “
Sign up to receive the Global Dispatch newsletter – a biweekly summary of our top news, recommended readings and opinions from our team on key development and human rights issues: