Non-resettlement "Support Package"

£40 million Support Package

When the British Government announced their decision on 16 November 2016 that they would not permit resettlement of the Chagos Archipelago, they also announced that a 'Support Package' would be provided:

"The Government will instead seek to support improvements to the livelihoods of Chagossians in the communities where they now live. I can today announce that we have agreed to fund a package of approximately £40 million over the next ten years to achieve this goal. This money addresses the most pressing needs of the community by improving access to health and social care and to improved education and employment opportunities. Moreover, this fund will support a significantly expanded programme of visits to BIOT for native Chagossians. The Government will work closely with Chagossian communities in the UK and overseas to develop cost-effective programmes which will make the biggest improvement in the life chances of those Chagossians who need it most".

£39.11 Million remains unspent (to date 1 February 2023)

Chagossian Community Position Statements on the Support Package.

The Chagos Refugees Group in both Mauritius and the UK has informed the FCO that it does not accept the Support Package and that the money should be used to fund resettlement instead. It also refuses to participate in the visits for the same reason. It has also expressed disappointment that modest assistance given to Chagossians in Mauritius in the past to provide training and education has ceased following the announcement in November 2016. On 16 November 2020 Olivier Bancoult, President of the CRG, posted a further update on Facebook - this is reproduced below.

The Chagos Committee Seychelles condemns the use of Support Package funds to finance visits to the territory. It considers that the funds should only be used to alleviate poverty after an independent needs assessment has been conducted.

16 November 2020 - Message of Louis Olivier Bancoult President of Chagos Refugees Group.

Brothers and sisters, comrades and supporters,

Today 16th November 2020 it is exactly four years since FCO presented in the British Parliament a written statement regarding a Financial Support Package for the Chagossian community and also stated the UK government position regarding resettlement in the Chagos Archipelago, that it would be impossible for resettlement to take place because of terrorism and piracy. They announced a Financial Support Package of 40 millions pounds sterling which were to be spend as follows:

To improve condition of living of Chagossians wherever they are, in UK, Mauritius and Seychelles
Education
Health
Training
Heritage visits in Chagos.

With all those mentioned above only heritage visits have taken place, all others have not been fulfilled. This is how a supposedly government who always says that they are very sympathetic to our cause and who even apologized for what happened in the 1960's continues to consider our plea by having an inhumane behavior towards us.A government who says that they are very concerned about human rights and violation of people rights.

We asked for a life pension to be given to all native Chagossians and other Chagossian groups also made several proposals such as funeral grants, welcome venue/house for those who decide to settle in the UK, creation of jobs, compensation, scholarship for Chagossian students, medical check up for all Chagossians etc.

But not even one request was favorably accepted or considered, same thing happened with the Marine Protected area in 2010.

Since 16th November 2016 many of our Chagossians have passed away including my Mum who was hoping to be able to return on her native land and to get a compensation for all what she had suffered over all these years.

How can we Chagossians continue to believe and trust what FCO says as they have never shouldered their responsibilities towards us, comparing to Falklanders and other British Overseas Territories.

On 4th November 2020 in a mail addressed to UK Chagossian Community Residents, Paul Stokes desk officer of the British Indian Ocean Territory invites Chagossians for an English language course where only 20 places were available and that the course would take place at Crawley College. This course was to be included as an expenditure in the Chagossian Support Package. Chagossians in the UK are well aware that those courses are free for low income people in UK.

This is how the UK government considers us, they think we are stupid and unaware of certain things.

Since announcing the Support Package the British government could have taken many positive steps for Chagossians if they really had the wish to do so and the goodwill but unfortunately they had not.

Instead of finding solutions they continue to deny their responsibilities towards Chagossians. Now they want to divide and rule, this is the way they have always behaved.

I make an appeal to all my brothers and sisters, just realize if we can continue to survive with false promises as day by day our people are disappearing without seeing their legitimate wishes being fulfilled.

We need to stand our ground and say no to manipulation, division and false promises.

Kind regards to you all,

Olivier Bancoult OSK, President, Chagos Refugees Group

"Expanded Programme of Visits"

The most substantial element of the 'Support Package' that has been implemented to date (February 2023) is that of visits to the islands by Chagossians. The maximum number of participants is limited to approx 25 for each visit. See: BIOT website - Heritage Visits

Costs of these visits are met from the 'Support Package' announced by HM Government on 16 November 2016. These costs include the expenses of an FCO official who accompanies each visit.

On 24 October 2019 in response to a Parliamentary Question, the FCO stated that £3.3M in total had been allocated to the visit program. In a further PQ dated 30 November 2020 the FCDO (the newly titled Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) stated that there had been a total of 8 heritage visits to date totalling 154 Chagossians.
In response to a Parliamentary Question on 9 November 2021 the FCDO stated that it had spent £571,073.52 on these visits.

The following is a record of known visits:

2017

Two visits towards the end of year (28 Chagossians). The first visit was in November (18 Chagossians, 11 from UK, 7 from Mauritius) BIOT Website Report.

2018

Visit mid-February (16 Chagossians, 13 from UK and 3 from Seychelles) - BIOT Website report
Visit 30 October- 6 November 2018 (16 Chagossians).

2019

Visit 19-26th February (17 Chagossians, accompanied by Alison Cairns, Policy Officer BIOT).

2020-21

The BIOT Website showed planned visits for September 2020, October/November 2020 and May 2021. These and future visits have been suspended until safe to resume the programme (PQ HL10686).

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8 Heritage Visits with a total of 154 Chagossian visitors since November 2017

Source: BIOT Administration Website and Parliamentary Question 9 November 2021.

Note: Between 2006 and 2016 there had been 10 visits for a total of 208 Chagossians.

Chagossians visiting Chagos

Visit 30 Oct - 6 Nov 2018

Visit 19-26 February 2019

"Improvements to the livelihoods of Chagossians in the communities where they now live"

Progress of this element of the Support Package, such as is known, are still extremely limited. We report what is known in each location below.

United Kingdom

Crawley Borough Council had been engaged by the FCO to undertake a Chagossian Community Needs Assessment at the end of 2017. No progress was made and in July 2018 the council formally withdrew from this. The FCO has not yet engaged a new partner to provide this. During this assessment period the FCO held a meeting in Crawley, West Sussex on 9 May 2018 to which they invited members of the Chagossian community. The FCO spent £15,021 for payment to an interpreter at the meeting and to Crawley Borough Council for the aborted needs assessment (FOI request 3 July 2020).

On 24 October 2019 in response to a Parliamentary Question (PQ), the FCO stated that £18.7M of the Support Package is available to the FCO to be spent in the UK and Seychelles (less the £3.3M allocated to the program for Chagossian 'heritage visits' to BIOT).

In late October 2020 the FCDO issued a call for bids from the Chagossian community in the UK for projects to be financed from the Support Package in the financial year 2020-2021 (FCDO bid ) as well as e-mailing contacts within the community directly. This was stated to be a "competitive" bidding round for projects that support Chagossians to have better life chances in the UK communities where they live. Bids were required to fall into one of 5 areas: education, health, employment, social care, and culture (retention and awareness). Full details can be found in the Guidance Document which requires funds to be channelled through "Project Delivery Organisations" who will be responsible for running the projects. Meanwhile the FCDO is planning to appoint a separate "Grant Making Body" to manage and oversee the delivery of the projects. This proposed bureaucracy will undoubtedly have the effect of siphoning off some of the funds in management costs before they ever benefit the Chagossians directly. The original closing date for bids was 26 November 2020, it was then extended to 3 December 2020.

Following a further PQ on 9 November 2021 the FCDO outlined its support in the UK as involving:

A health and wellbeing project launched in Wythenshawe (Manchester) to increase Chagossians' digital access through the provision of IT equipment;
A music project launched in Crawley focusing on increasing employability, wellbeing and awareness of Chagossian music and culture among the local community;
The provision of English language courses at Crawley College to help adult learners attain the requisite language skills to enhance their employability;
The provision of statements of comparability by the UK National Information Centre, enabling recognition and evaluation of international qualifications and skills attained outside of the UK.

Mauritius

On 24 October 2019 in response to a PQ, the FCO stated that approximately £21.3M of the support package is Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the Department for International Development (DFID) to progress in Mauritius (as an ODA-eligible country). DFID was incorporated into the FCDO in 2020 and expenditure now falls under the new department.
In response to a PQ on 9 September 2019, DFID reported that British Council in Mauritius had run a series of radio adverts at a cost of £5,444 to gauge interest among the Chagossian community for English Language Training.
On 9 July 2020 DFID reported that it had contracted the sum of £37,944.37 with the British Council in Mauritius to provide English Language Training for Chagossians (note: it is not clear whether this sum included the cost of the radio adverts - see above) and since 2019, 217 have participated in these courses.
On 9 November 2021, responding to a further PQ, the FCDO also announced that the British Council had also launched a business skills training programme which supports Chagossian women to develop and grow their businesses with 18 trainees due to complete the inaugural course in December 2021.

Seychelles

No known progress other than an aspiration to continue "to seek opportunities to establish projects for Chagossians living in the Seychelles" (PQ 9 November 2021).

Chagossian slum housing in Mauritius