Wednesday 16 April 2014

British Citizenship for Chagossians in Forced Exile


On Thursday 17th April 2014 the Chagossian community will hold a demonstration in front of the Home Office in East Croydon about all Citizenship and visa problems. Below is some background to the problems.


(extracted from ‘Unusual Immigrants’, or, Chagos Islanders and Their Confrontations with British Citizenship by Laura Jeffery. Anthropology in Action, 18, 2, (2011)



The British Overseas Territories Act 2002 reclassified the British Dependent Territories (BDTs) as British Overseas Territories (BOTs) and awarded full U.K. citizenship to citizens of such territories. People born on Chagos when it was a British colony, who were eligible for BDT citizenship under the British Nationality Act 1981, thus became eligible for full U.K. citizenship through their place of birth. According to the British Overseas Territories Act 2002, citizens of the BOTs can transmit the entitlement to U.K. citizenship to their children who are also born in a BOT. This provision would not initially have applied to the children born to Chagos islanders in exile, since they were born not in a BOT but in the independent republics of Mauritius and Seychelles. In response to this situation, the Chagos Refugees Group staged a sleep-in protest outside the British High Commission in the Mauritian capital Port Louis. Their campaign was supported in the U.K. by the Labour MPs Tam Dalyell (who was then Father of the House) and Jeremy Corbyn, who repeatedly put the Chagossian case on the parliamentary agenda. They emphasized that the Chagos islanders’ residence outwith the Chagos Archipelago was a result of their forcible displacement from that territory rather than choice. Accepting this logic, the government introduced a supplementary section to provide for the transmission of U.K. citizenship to Chagos islanders’ second-generation descendants born in exile. From the perspective of Chagossians, however, there have been three main problems with the limitations on eligibility for U.K. citizenship laid out in the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 (and the corresponding British Nationality Act 1981).

1. Privileging Marriage

According to the British Nationality Act 1981, whereas an unmarried British woman can pass her citizenship to her children, an unmarried British man cannot pass his citizenship to his children born outwith marriage (unless the parents subsequently marry). The problem for the extended Chagossian community is that – in common with other matrifocal post-slavery societies in the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean – the colonial Chagos Archipelago was characterized by female-headed households, a relative instability of sexual relationships and a low incidence of marriage (Botte 1980: 22–23; Walker 1986: 15–18). Although most of its inhabitants were nominally Roman Catholic, the Chagos Archipelago did not have a permanent Catholic priest during its period of colonial settlement from 1795 to 1973. An itinerant priest travelled around the Mauritius outer islands to perform important ceremonies such as baptisms, christenings and weddings; in between these visits, administrators apparently conducted weekly services (Dussercle 1934: 10; Dussercle 1935; Descroizilles and Mülnier 1999: 26). Chagos islanders told me that they did not necessarily get married to their partners, both because they were not encouraged to do so and because it was not expected that the union would be for life. Thus many Chagossians felt that the privileging of ‘legitimate’ children in U.K. citizenship legislation discriminated against those for whom marriage was not promoted by the British authorities. In particular, this rule affects the children born in exile to an unmarried Chagossian man and a non-Chagossian woman, who comprise a relatively common category as a result of the flows of people amongst all of the dependencies of colonial Mauritius.

2. Date of Forced Deportation

The supplementary section of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 covers Chagossians’ second- generation descendants only if they were born in exile after 26 April 1969. In 2001, Blair’s Labour government selected this cut-off date as the start of what Ben Bradshaw (then a junior Foreign Office Minister) called the 1960s Wilson government’s ‘policy of exclusion’ from the Chagos Archipelago. Writing this start date into the 2002 legislation was a way to avoid awarding U.K. citizenship to the children of those islanders deemed by government officials to have left Chagos ‘voluntarily’ prior to the forced depopulation of the territory. This start date gives rise to several problems. Firstly, since there were limited medical facilities on Chagos, it was not uncommon in the early and mid-twentieth century for expectant mothers to give birth in Mauritius before returning to Chagos, so place of birth is not a reliable indicator of residence since the children of Chagos residents could be born in Mauritius. Secondly, Chagossians and their supporters contest the claimed date for the start of the forced deportations: regardless of when the forced deportations actually began, the BIOT was established in 1965, and islanders visiting Mauritius or Seychelles had been prevented from returning to Chagos from the mid-1960s onwards. As a result of these anomalies, there are numerous Chagossian families in which those siblings born in exile prior to 1969 remained ineligible for U.K. citizenship whilst those born in exile after 1969 became eligible for U.K. citizenship. In its briefing for a House of Lords Committee debate on the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill in 2009, the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) recommended removing this cut-off date to ‘ensure that Chagos Islanders ... born in exile before 26 April 1969 are British Citizens’.

3. Subsequent Generations and Spouses

Whilst the legislation provides for native Chagos islanders and their second-generation descendants born in exile, it does not include subsequent generations of descendants or non-Chagossian spouses. Ben Bradshaw told the standing committee concerned with the British Overseas Territories Bill that the government’s rationale was that extending eligibility to subsequent generations would privilege Chagos islanders vis-à-vis other BOT citizens by descent, who could not pass their citizenship to future generations born outwith BOTs. In any case, he added tantalizingly, transmission of U.K. citizenship to subsequent generations would become unnecessary in the event of resettlement of Chagos as a BOT, since subsequent generations born in or resident on Chagos would become eligible in their own right. From the perspective of Chagossians themselves, however, the issue is that since the depopulation of Chagos took place from 1965 to 1973, a whole generation born in exile has had time to grow up and produce a subsequent generation of children, who are not eligible for U.K. citizenship. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee took evidence from the leaders of three Chagossian organizations in 2008, agreed that the fact that the islanders were no longer living in a BOT was ‘as a consequence of exile rather than their own choice’, and recommended that citizenship ‘should be extended to third generation descendants of exiled Chagossians’. Similarly, the ILPA noted that the fact that ‘the children of Chagossians are born outside the U.K. or a qualifying territory is no fault of their own but the result of their enforced exile’, and concluded that ‘few can have as compelling a claim to British citizenship as those children’. In relation to spouses, the majority of Chagossians who have married since arriving in Mauritius or Seychelles have married non-Chagossian partners, who likewise are not automatically eligible for U.K. citizenship.


Dr Laura Jeffery is Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. She has worked with the Chagossian community since 2002, and is author of the book Chagos Islanders in Mauritius and the UK: Forced Displace- ment and Onward Migration (MUP 2011). She currently holds an ESRC Research Fellowship to explore debates about environmental knowledge in the context of the Chagos Marine Protected Area (MPA) designated by the U.K. Government in 2010, which is being challenged by the Mauritian Government under the United Nations Conven- tion on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Email: Laura.Jeffery@ed.ac.uk



Further Reading:

'Unusual Immigrants', or, Chagos Islanders and Their Confrontations with British Citizenship by Laura Jeffery. Anthropology in Action, Volume 18, Number 2, Summer 2011 , pp. 33-44

British Overseas Territories Act 2002

Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association briefings for the House of Lords Committee debate (2 March 2009) on the Borders Immigration and Citizenship Bill Part 2 (Citizenship)




Thursday 10 April 2014

UK Chagos Support Association Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2014

UK CHAGOS SUPPORT ASSOCIATION (UKChSA)
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)
Sunday 6th April 2014, Pizza Express, Pimlico, London

Minutes of Meeting
1. Apologies
Sabrina Jean & Clency Lebrasse covered the apologies from members who were unavailable to join us.  These were stated on behalf of George Beckham, David Snoxell, Celia Whittaker, Richard Gifford, Richard Dunne, Philippa Gregory & Marcus Booth.
2. Minutes
The minutes from the last meeting have been circulated to all members and have been approved.
3. Olivier Bancoult
Olivier Bancoult was in attendance and made a contribution on behalf of Richard Gifford.
He conveyed apologies on behalf of Richard for his unavailability during what had been a very busy week.  Olivier had been visiting London due to the appeal being staged earlier in the week (which was a key factor in determining the date for this year’s AGM).
Olivier reflected upon the contribution Richard had made to the struggle of achieving justice for Chagossians, questioning the legality of the MPA and highlighting how the zone came into existence in 2010.  He also highlighted how the MPA was perceived to be best way to obstruct the right of return of Chagossians to the islands.
It was pointed out that the ECHR ruled against the Chagossians on the basis that 471 former islanders received compensation in 1982.  It was noted that the ECHR effectively “washed its hands” of the Chagossian community during its ruling.
Summarising the various legal actions which have taken place over the years, particular attention was paid to the past 18 months.  Notably the ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in December 2012, the Judicial Review in April 2013 and the subsequent appeal which was heard in the High Court in London last week.
The appeal which concluded last week now leaves everyone waiting for the ruling to be delivered.  The master of rolls at the appeal had explained that there were “lots to consider” and that we should not expect a judgement this side of June 2014.
4. Chair’s Report
Sabrina Jean addressed the AGM in her capacity as the Chair of the Association and summarised the events of the past twelve months.
Judicial Review MPA
Chagos Refugees Group leader Olivier Bancoult flew to the UK to join other Chagossians for the Judicial Review into the Marine Protection Area.  The hearing had been much anticipated due to the fact that it would be the first time that Foreign Office officials would be cross-examined in relation to evidence attained from the Wikileaks cables which were released in 2010.

Although Colin Roberts and Joanne Yeadon, the former Commissioner and Administrator of BIOT respectively, were cross examined in depth about what they said to US embassy officials as reported in wikileaks cables, the judges agreed with the FCO and ruled that this evidence was inadmissible under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.  The judges may have got this wrong and in October 2013 our permission to appeal was granted & subsequently formed the basis for our appeal which was heard this week in London.

E-Petition
Between May 2012 and May 2013 we sought an almost impossible target of 100,000 signatures exclusively from British citizens via the E-Petitions website.  We have fallen some way short of that target, but this campaign can never be regarded as a failure.  If we were able to locate just one new supporter, then the exercise has been worthwhile and a success even if our overall target was not achieved.

The fact that the petition has been the driving force behind our renewed presence on the social networks and that in doing so we have found many more than just one new supporter, the petition has accomplished a number of other goals as we have highlighted this cause to new supporters and have established a stronger presence to take our message forward. The final figure for the petition which closed on May 25th stood at 1017 signatures and even more remarkable is that we added over 300 signatures in the final two months.

But recent events remind us of where we are.  The Yashika case achieved almost 180,000 signatures in 10 days, and perhaps we can learn lessons from the campaigning techniques they deployed.  That was a cause that was probably driven by a core base of around 40-50 people who were able to set in motion a sequence that got their cause all over the news.

Chagos Anniversary & My Birthday
I celebrated my 40th birthday in June last year which of course means I was the one of the first to be born in exile.  It’s a coincidence which makes us all take a step back and appreciate the gravity of the time during which this heinous crime has not been realistically addressed and redeemed.

BIOT Policy Review
In June the Foreign Office finally requested feedback for its “taking stock” process which commenced following the ECHR ruling last December.  My statement on 8th July called for a completely transparent and fair process:
Given the many experts available to advise on resettlement, the extensive research that has already taken place, and the Chagossian community’s ongoing openness to the various possibilities, we are confident that the process can be concluded far more swiftly than the estimated 18 months. 

Indeed, we think it is essential that the report is completed during the lifetime of this parliament – if the government is sincere in its determination to find ‘a just settlement for the Chagossian people’, as the Foreign Secretary stated, then it must act while it is in power.

On the 19th November the draft reference of the Terms of Reference were published with a final version being published at the end of January.  The consultants were appointed in February and it is our hope that this process will be completed during the lifetime of the existing parliament.

Chagos Islands Visit
Fifteen Chagossians from Seychelles, Mauritius and the UK visited the islands from the 27th October until the 7th November.  The group were all natives (first generation islanders) who were born between 1922 and 1948.  The trip was a success and we look forward to more opportunities for Chagossians to visit the islands.  We feel that the omission of this area in the BIOT Policy Review was a mistake: nobody understands the islands like we do.

Chagos Conference
In October 2013 the CRG celebrated its 30th anniversary since it was established.  Jeremy Corbyn sponsored an early day motion congratulating the CRG on the conference and the anniversary.  The EDM secured signatures from across the political spectrum: Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats, SNP, SDLP, Plaid Crymru and even Mike Hancock the Independent MP for Portsmouth South!

The CRG 30th Anniversary conference was attended by many of our friends including David Vine, Dr Laura Jeffrey, Richard Dunne and the former President of Mauritius Caseem Uteem.  The conference also included an address by APPG co-ordinator David Snoxell. We were very happy that so many were able to make the event in Mauritius last October.  In January 2014 one of the attendees, Andre Oraison, organised a follow-up one day conference in Reunion which was widely publicised in the local media too.

Chagos Islands FC
We finally saw the return of our football team in February as they again took on Sealand.  Unfortunately the team suffered a 4-2 defeat but we were grateful for the opportunity to see the team in action again.  We now have announced a further fundraising event and we hope that the team will be involved in a lot more frequent contests which will be such a good way to ensure our struggle continues to be highlighted.

Diego Garcia Expansion Underway
interesting news was brought to our attention, the significance of which seems to have slipped largely under the radar in the wider media.  Defi Media Group reported that 40,000 tonnes of rocks are being exported from Mauritius to Diego Garcia with the intention of filling in sea area to enable expansion of the military base.  Furthermore Mauritian Foreign Affairs Minister Arvin Boolell seemed entirely relaxed about the news and stressed that the common arrangement did not jeopardise their own claims for sovereignty over the islands.

That may be the case, but the British Government has continued to pledge publicly that no decision has been taken over the future of the base beyond 2016 and that once the issue is on the table, Parliament will be consulted and kept informed.  For a decision which is not yet taken, this would appear to be a very pre-emptive decision by the US Government to expand the base if it did not already know what the future of the Islands would hold beyond the existing lease.

Water Pollution
When we Chagossians lived on our islands, the seas and lagoons were pristine. When the Americans arrived, they caused massive environmental degradation, including bulldozing our villages and flattening graveyards. To create building materials, they started dynamiting the lagoon of Diego Garcia, killing fish and destroying large areas of coral reef.

For many years we have been pressing BIOT to conduct an environmental audit of the effects of the US occupation. This has been consistently refused, with the explanation that the impact of the occupation is minimal. We can now see that throughout this period there have been no controls on the pollution.

We are the real guardians of our homeland. Until we are allowed to return, we think that this degradation is bound to be permitted to continue.”

The news was reported around the world and we now know that the British Government were themselves directly involved. 

Crimea
We were very interested to watch with interest the reaction of the European Union and the USA when it came to the unfolding situation on Crimea.  The hypocrisy of their stance over Crimea compared to their disregard for our struggle needs to be highlighted more.

5. Secretary’s Report
The secretary of the association will publish a report at a later date.
6. Treasurers Report
Peri Batliwala addressed the AGM in her capacity as Treasurer of the Association.  The treasurer’s report for 2013/14 was circulated to all members in attendance.
In brief as an association are £483 worse off this year end than at the same point last year.  It signals that for the year ahead our absolute priority must be to raise funds in any way we can.  Although we were not successful in any of the bids for funding we applied for, it is important that the community continues to submit applications for organisations such as Lush, The Network for Social Justice and other bodies who have expressed interest in us in the past.
We must also look to our supporters if we are to continue to provide financial support to the Chagossian Community as we have traditionally done, as well as allocating funds for the campaigning and political work that has been a major priority of the past year, and as an important part of the coming year in relation to the FCO resettlement report.  Our limited funding situation has meant that financial support has not been sought from or given to CRG Mauritius or Seychelles in the past year.
7. Sports Management
Gianny Augustin addressed the AGM in his capacity as the assistant sports officer.  He highlighted the forthcoming football tournament which is designed to raise funds for the Chagos Islands football team.  He also exclusively revealed that the side have confirmed a rematch against Sealand on the 4th May and more information will follow in the April edition of the newsletter.
It was also emphasised that although managing the football team was extremely useful to ensuring the cause maintained a visibility, it was also a very costly exercise and that we are in desperate need of a sponsor for the side.  This will be highlighted in forthcoming editions of the newsletter as it was agreed that is in everyone’s interests that the football side continued to stage matches and maintain publicity of the wider cause.
8. Update Compiler’s Report
Clency Lebrasse in his capacity as Update Compiler (newsletter editor) addressed the AGM and addressed some of the issues regarding receipt of the monthly newsletter.  Supporters and committee members were reminded that the newsletter was produced once a month and that in his two year tenure as Update Compiler, there were only two occasions (October & November 2013) that the newsletter had not been distributed during the final week of the month.  Therefore it was very easy for recipients to know if he had their correct (and up to date) contact details in order to receive the newsletter.
It was explained that if any recipient had not received the newsletter by the beginning of the following month, a very simple email to the UK Chagos email account would clarify why this had been the case and that it should not be the responsibility of the Update Compiler to check that every single recipient had received their own individual copy.
9. Election of Officers
Unfortunately we were not able to conduct our annual election as is customary at the end of the AGM.  It was deemed impractical to request a follow up meeting in the foreseeable future due to the fact that some supporters and committee members had travelled from extremely distant locations in order to be present on the 6th April.
It was therefore decided that for one year only, the election would be conducted by email to all supporters and committee members who were registered on the UKChSA supporter’s database.  It was decided that this would be the fairest way to resolve the issue and did not unfairly penalise supporters or committee members who had made the effort to be present on the day and may not be available again for some time.
The election will be announced in the April edition of the newsletter with everyone being provided adequate notice to put their name forward to stand for election.  The May edition of the newsletter would include a list of candidates for supporter’s to vote for and the results would be announced in the June edition of the newsletter with the new committee taking effect from July 1st 2014.
10. Other Business
The Association wished to place on record its thanks and appreciation for all of the supporters and committee members who were in attendance, with a special note of gratitude for Olivier Bancoult who was able to join us for this occasion.


Attendees were also reminded that the 2015 edition of the AGM would be announced at least three months in advance so that all supporters and committee members were given as much notice as possible in order to ensure they were able to attend.