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.
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