Chagos Islands: UK should pay reparations, says Human Rights Watch

Britain should wage reparations to radical removed from the Chagos Islands, a British territory successful the Indian Ocean, a quality rights radical has said.

Human Rights Watch besides called connected Britain to let Chagossians to instrumentality to the islands, from which much than 1,000 radical were forced to permission successful the 1960s and 1970s.

The radical accused the UK of "committing an appalling assemblage crime".

The Foreign Office said it rejected this characterisation.

After a subject basal leased to the United States was established successful 1966 connected Diego Garcia, the largest of the 60 tiny islands of the Chagos Archipelago, the indigenous inhabitants were evicted from their homes. Chagossians person fought for their instrumentality ever since.

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch - an planetary radical investigating abuses crossed the satellite - published a study calling for the UK and US to supply reparations to Chagossian people.

Its elder ineligible advisor Clive Baldwin said: "The UK is contiguous committing an appalling assemblage crime, treating each Chagossians arsenic a radical without rights.

"The UK and the US, who unneurotic expelled the Chagossians from their homes, should supply afloat reparations for the harm they person caused."

The radical identified 3 "crimes against humanity", including continued unit displacement of Chagossian people, prevention of their instrumentality location and persecution of them connected the crushed of contention and ethnicity.

It besides recommended King Charles contented a afloat and unreserved apology for crimes committed against by Chagossians by the UK.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We respect the enactment Human Rights Watch does astir the world, but we categorically cull this characterisation of events.

"The UK has made wide its heavy regret astir the mode successful which Chagossians were removed from BIOT [British Indian Ocean Territory] successful the precocious 1960s and aboriginal 1970s.

"We stay committed to supporting Chagossians including done a important enactment bundle and our caller British citizenship way for Chagossians launched past November."

The US State Department has been contacted for comment.

Mauritius claims it was forced to springiness up the islands successful 1965 successful speech for independence, which it gained successful 1968.

Most of the colonisation of the Chagos Islands was sent to Mauritius, 1,000 miles to the south, without compensation. Some moved to the Seychelles and to Britain, wherever galore present unrecorded Crawley, West Sussex.