Editing Mauritius (section)

== Chagos Archipelago territorial dispute ==
{{Main|Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute|Expulsion of the Chagossians}}

[[File:Chagos map.PNG|thumb|Map of the [[Chagos Archipelago]]]]

Mauritius has long sought [[sovereignty]] over the [[Chagos Archipelago]], located {{convert|1287|km|mi|abbr=on}} to the north-east. Chagos was administratively part of Mauritius from the 18th century when the French first settled the islands. All of the islands forming part of the French colonial territory of [[Isle de France (Mauritius)|Isle de France]] (as Mauritius was then known) were ceded to the British in 1810 under the Act of Capitulation signed between the two powers.<ref name="real">{{Cite web|date=6 April 2012|title=Time for UK to Leave Chagos Archipelago|url=http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2012/04/06/mauritius_chagos_archipelago_diego_garcia_99999.html|access-date=22 January 2015|publisher=Real clear world}}</ref>

In 1965, three years before the independence of Mauritius, the United Kingdom split the Chagos Archipelago away from Mauritius, and the islands of [[Aldabra]], [[Farquhar Group|Farquhar]], and [[Desroches]] from the [[Seychelles]], to form the British Indian Ocean Territory. The islands were formally established as an overseas territory of the United Kingdom on 8 November 1965.<ref name="Annex 29PCA">{{Cite web|title=ANNEX 29 - Colonial Office Telegram No. 298 to Mauritius, 8 November 1965, FO 371/184529|url=https://files.pca-cpa.org//pcadocs/mu-uk/Annexes%20to%20Memorial/MM%20Annexes%201-80.pdf|publisher=[[Permanent Court of Arbitration]]|date=8 November 1965|access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> During UK-US discussions on the Indian Ocean in November 1975, the United Kingdom expressed its intention to return the islands of Aldabra, Farquhar, and Desroches to Seychelles to facilitate its peaceful transition to independence by June 1976.<ref name="Annex 76PCA">{{Cite web|title=ANNEX 76 - Parahraph 48 - British Embassy, Washington, November 1975, Minutes of Anglo-US Talks on the Indian Ocean held on 7 November 1975 (Extract)|url=https://files.pca-cpa.org//pcadocs/mu-uk/Annexes%20to%20Memorial/MM%20Annexes%201-80.pdf|publisher=[[Permanent Court of Arbitration]]|date=7 November 1975|access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> Both the UK and the United States acknowledged that these islands could not be used for defense purposes, as they were populated, and forcibly removing inhabitants, as had occurred in the Chagos Archipelago, would be politically unfeasible.<ref name="Annex 75PCA">{{Cite web|title=ANNEX 75 - Anglo/US Consultations on the Indian Ocean: November 1975, Agenda Item III, Brief No. 4: Future of Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches, November 1975|url=https://files.pca-cpa.org//pcadocs/mu-uk/Annexes%20to%20Memorial/MM%20Annexes%201-80.pdf|publisher=[[Permanent Court of Arbitration]]|date=November 1975|access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> On 18 March 1976, the UK and Seychelles signed an agreement to transfer the islands, which officially returned to Seychelles on its Independence Day, 29 June 1976.<ref name="Annex 79PCA">{{Cite web|title=ANNEX 79 - Heads of Agreement between the Government of UK, the Administration of the "British Indian Ocean Territory" and the Government of Seychelles Concerning the Return of Aldabra, Desroches and Farquhar to Seychelles to be Executed on Independence Day, FCO 40/732|url=https://files.pca-cpa.org//pcadocs/mu-uk/Annexes%20to%20Memorial/MM%20Annexes%201-80.pdf|publisher=[[Permanent Court of Arbitration]]|date=18 March 1976|access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> The BIOT now comprises the Chagos Archipelago only. The UK leased the main island of the archipelago, [[Diego Garcia]], to the United States under a 50-year lease to establish a military base.<ref name="real" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Who Owns Diego Garcia? Decolonisation and Indigenous Rights in the Indian Ocean|url=http://www.geoffreyrobertson.com/documents/DiegoGarciaTheWesternAustraliaLawReviewPubilshedJune2012.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502070735/http://www.geoffreyrobertson.com/documents/DiegoGarciaTheWesternAustraliaLawReviewPubilshedJune2012.pdf|archive-date=2 May 2014|access-date=22 January 2015|publisher=[[Geoffrey Robertson]]}}</ref> In 2016, Britain extended the lease to the US till 2036.<ref name="THE HINDU">{{Cite web|date=27 February 2019|title=Decolonising Chagos|url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/decolonising-chagos/article26379247.ece|access-date=5 April 2019|website=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> Mauritius has repeatedly asserted that the separation of its territories is a violation of United Nations resolutions banning the dismemberment of colonial territories before independence and claims that the [[Chagos Archipelago]], including [[Diego Garcia]], forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius under both Mauritian law and international law.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Indradev|last=Curpen|date=15 June 2012|title=Chagos remains a matter for discussion|url=http://www.defimedia.info/news-sunday/nos-parliament/item/13899-chagos-remains-a-matter-for-discussion.html?tmpl=component&print=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427032857/http://www.defimedia.info/news-sunday/nos-parliament/item/13899-chagos-remains-a-matter-for-discussion.html?tmpl=component&print=1|archive-date=27 April 2015|access-date=22 January 2015|publisher=[[Le Défi Media Group]]}}</ref> Between 1968 and 1973, British officials forcibly expelled over 1,000 [[Chagossians]] to Mauritius and the Seychelles. As part of the deportation, British officials have been accused of ordering the island's dog population of 1,000 to be gassed.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Evers|first1=Sandra|url=https://archive.org/details/evictionfromchag00ever|title=Eviction from the Chagos Islands: Displacement and Struggle for Identity Against Two World Powers|last2=Kooy|first2=Marry|date=2011|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|isbn=978-90-04-20260-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/evictionfromchag00ever/page/n21 3]|url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name="dog">{{Cite news|last=Cork|first=Tristan|title=The shocking reason there are dogs hanging from a tree in Bristol|work=Bristol Post|url=https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/shocking-reason-dogs-hanging-tree-2140149}}</ref> At the United Nations and in statements to its Parliament, the UK stated that there was no "permanent population" in the Chagos Archipelago and described the population as "contract labourers" who were relocated.<ref name="ICJ"/> Since 1971, only the atoll of Diego Garcia is inhabited, home to some 3,000 UK and US military and civilian contracted personnel. Chagossians have since engaged in activism to return to the archipelago, claiming that their forced expulsion and dispossession were illegal.<ref name="BBC">{{Cite news|date=22 July 2011|title=Mauritius profile|work=BBC World|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13882233|access-date=22 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=History|url=http://archive.chagossupport.org.uk/index.php/background/history/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401213846/http://archive.chagossupport.org.uk/index.php/background/history/|archive-date=1 April 2016|access-date=22 January 2015|publisher=The UK Chagos Support Association}}</ref>

Mauritius considers the territorial sea of the Chagos Archipelago and Tromelin island as part of its [[exclusive economic zone]].<ref name="EEZ 1977"/>

[[File:Camp Justice --Diego Garcia.jpg|thumb|The military base of [[Camp Justice (Diego Garcia)|Camp Justice]] on [[Diego Garcia]]]]

On 20 December 2010, Mauritius initiated proceedings against the United Kingdom under the [[United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]] (UNCLOS) to challenge the legality of the [[Chagos Marine Protected Area]] (MPA), which the UK purported to declare around the Chagos Archipelago in April 2010. The dispute was arbitrated by the [[Permanent Court of Arbitration]]. The Tribunal's decision determined that the UK's undertaking to return the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius gives Mauritius an interest in significant decisions that bear upon possible future uses of the archipelago.<ref name="cha">{{Cite web|date=20 March 2015|title=Sixth National Assembly Parliamentary Debates(Hansard)|url=http://mauritiusassembly.govmu.org/English/hansard/Documents/2015/hansard1215.pdf|access-date=21 January 2016|publisher=[[National Assembly (Mauritius)]]}}</ref>

On 25 February 2019, the judges of the [[International Court of Justice]] by thirteen votes to one stated that the United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible. Only the American judge, [[Joan Donoghue]], voted in favor of the UK. The president of the court, [[Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf]], said the detachment of the Chagos Archipelago in 1965 from Mauritius had not been based on a "free and genuine expression of the people concerned". "This continued administration constitutes a wrongful act", he said, adding "The UK has an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible and that all member states must co-operate with the United Nations to complete the decolonization of Mauritius."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bowcott|first=Owen|date=25 February 2019|title=UN court rejects UK's claim of sovereignty over Chagos Islands|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/25/un-court-rejects-uk-claim-to-sovereignty-over-chagos-islands|access-date=26 February 2019}}</ref>

On 22 May 2019, the United Nations General Assembly debated and adopted a resolution that affirmed that the Chagos Archipelago, which has been occupied by the UK for more than 50 years, "forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius". The resolution gives effect to an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), demanded that the UK "withdraw its colonial administration ... unconditionally within a period of no more than six months". 116 states voted in favour of the resolution, 55 abstained and only Australia, Hungary, Israel and Maldives supported the UK and US. During the debate, the Mauritian Prime Minister described the expulsion of Chagossians as "a [[Crimes against humanity|crime against humanity]]".<ref name="Resolution">{{Cite journal|last=Sands|first=Philippe|date=24 May 2019|title=At last, the Chagossians have a real chance of going back home|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/24/chagossians-britain-colony-shameful-un-resolution?|journal=[[The Guardian]]|quote=Britain's behaviour towards its former colony has been shameful. The UN resolution changes everything}}</ref> While the resolution is not legally binding, it carries significant political weight since the ruling came from the UN's highest court and the assembly vote reflects world opinion.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Osborne|first=Samuel|date=22 May 2019|title=Chagos Islands: UN officially demands Britain and US withdraw from Indian Ocean archipelago|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chagos-islands-uk-un-resolution-general-assembly-vote-indian-ocean-a8924656.html%3famp|url-status=live|journal=[[The Independent]]|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chagos-islands-uk-un-resolution-general-assembly-vote-indian-ocean-a8924656.html%3famp|archive-date=12 May 2022}}</ref> The resolution also has immediate practical consequences: the UN, its specialised agencies, and all other international organisations are now bound, as a matter of UN law, to support the decolonisation of Mauritius even if the UK claim that it has no doubt about its sovereignty.<ref name="Resolution" />

On 3 October 2024 it was announced through a joint statement by the UK and Mauritian governments that the archipelago was to have its sovereignty transferred to Mauritius. The island of Diego Garcia, which contains the military base Camp Justice, was the only exception to this new treaty, with administration being leased to the United Kingdom by the Mauritian government for a period of at least 99 years.<ref name="BBC Sovereignty">{{Cite news|last=Harding|first=Andrew|date=3 October 2024|title=UK will give sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius|work=[[BBC]]|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98ynejg4l5o|access-date=3 October 2024}}</ref>