Papers and Publications

Chagos Islanders & International Law -Stephen Allen

Stephen Allen is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Queen Mary, University of London.

In 1965, the UK excised the Chagos Islands from the colony of Mauritius to create the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in connection with the founding of a US military facility on the island of Diego Garcia. Consequently, the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands were secretly exiled to Mauritius, where they became chronically impoverished. This book considers the resonance of international law for the Chagos Islanders. It advances the argument that BIOT constitutes a 'Non-Self-Governing Territory' pursuant to the provisions of Chapter XI of the UN Charter and for the wider purposes of international law. In addition, the book explores the extent to which the right of self-determination, indigenous land rights and a range of obligations contained in applicable human rights treaties could support the Chagossian right to return to BIOT. However, the rights of the Chagos Islanders are premised on the assumption that the UK possesses a valid sovereignty claim over BIOT. The evidence suggests that this claim is questionable and it is disputed by Mauritius. Consequently, the Mauritian claim threatens to compromise the entitlements of the Chagos Islanders in respect of BIOT as a matter of international law. This book illustrates the ongoing problems arising from international law's endorsement of the territorial integrity of colonial units for the purpose of decolonisation at the expense of the countervailing claims of colonial self-determination by non-European peoples that inhabited the same colonial unit. The book uses the competing claims to the Chagos Islands to demonstrate the need for a more nuanced approach to the resolution of sovereignty disputes resulting from the legacy of European colonialism.

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Introduction;

1. The Chagossian Litigation in the English Courts;

2. The Chagos Islanders and the European Convention on Human Rights: Extra-territoriality and the Concept of State Jurisdiction;

3. Detaching the Chagos Islands from Mauritius: The 1965 Mauritian Constitutional Conference and the Making of the Lancaster House Agreement;

4. The 1965 Lancaster House Agreement and International Law;

5. Detaching the Chagos Islands from Mauritius: The Status of Colonial Self-determination in International Law during the mid-1960s;

6. Mauritian Claims of Sovereignty over the Chagos Islands: Mauritian Self-determination;

7. The Chagos Islanders and International Law;

8. Conclusion

Further details and purchase: Hart Publishing, Oxford

Fifty Years of the British Indian Ocean Territory: Legal Perspectives

Editors: Allen, Stephen, Monaghan, Chris (Eds.) Published: June 2018. Pages: 381. Springer Website

This edited collection offers a detailed account of the legal issues concerning the British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago). It examines the broader significance of the ongoing Bancoult litigation in the UK Courts, the Chagos Islanders’ petition to the European Court of Human Rights and Mauritius’ successful challenge, under the Law of the Sea Convention, to the UK government's creation of a Marine Protected Area around the Chagos Archipelago. The book, produced in response to the 50th anniversary of the BIOT’s founding, also assesses the impact of the decisions taken in respect of this Territory against a wider background of decolonization while addressing important questions about the lawfulness of maintaining Overseas Territories in the post-colonial era more generally.

CONTENTS:

• • • • • • • Stephen Allen and Chris Monaghan, ‘Introduction’

            • Stuart Lakin, ‘Justifying Bancoult (No 2): Why Justice Hercules Must Sometimes Disappoint Us’

            • Adam Tomkins, ‘Environmental Protection v the Right of Abode: A Case Study in the Misuse of Power’

            • Richard Gifford, ‘How Public Law has not been able to provide the Chagossians with a Remedy’

            • T.T. Arvind, ‘The Subject as a Civic Ghost: Law, Dominion, and Empire in the Chagos Litigation’

            • Chris Monaghan, ‘An Imperfect Legacy: The Significance of the Bancoult litigation on the Development of Domestic Constitutional Jurisprudence’,

            • Colin Murray and Tom Frost, ‘The Chagossians’ Struggle and the Last Bastions of Imperial Constitutionalism’

            • Ralph Wilde, ‘Anachronistic as colonial remnants may be...’ Locating the Rights of the Chagos Islanders as a Case Study of the Operation of Human Rights Law in Colonial Territories’

            • Thomas D. Grant, ‘The Once and Future King: Sovereignty over Territory and the Annex VII Tribunal’s Award in Mauritius v. United Kingdom’

            • Stephen Allen, The Operation of Estoppel in International Law and the Function of the Lancaster House Undertakings in the Chagos Arbitration Award’

            • David M. Ong, ‘Implications of the Chagos Marine Protected Area Arbitral Tribunal Award for the Balance between Natural Environmental Protection and Traditional Maritime Freedoms’

            • Sue Farran, ‘Learning from Chagos, Lessons for Pitcairn?’,

            • Amy Schwebel, ‘International Law and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: What Next for the Chagossians?’

            • David Snoxell, ‘The Politics of Chagos: Part Played by Parliament and the Courts Towards Resolving the Chagos Tragedy’