Confrontations, investigations, legal solutions & U-Turns
A BIG POLITICAL WEEK for the Chagos Islands issue
by Tessa Clarke, Editor
News: 5 February 2026
10 disturbing MUST READS
News reports suggest agreement on the UK-US military base in the Chagos Islands is imminent. Whatever the outcome of negotiations, here are 10 ways the islands’ sovereignty issue is treated undemocratically
by THE CHAGOS FILES team
News: 2 February: updated 5 February 2026
New Poll: most Brits oppose the deal or “don’t know”
Why are so many British voters unsure if they support the Government’s Chagos sovereignty deal or not?
News: 25 January 2026
Chagossians Fight Back
How the Chagossians are fighting back in new ways against the Government’s deal - report by Tessa Clarke, Editor, THE CHAGOS FILES
Report: 22 January/updated 24 January 2026
ALERT! All Brits should oppose deal, say leading UK Chagos campaign group
As parliament debates the CHAGOS SOVEREIGNTY BILL, the Indigenous Chagossian People (ICP) call on “all British people to make some noise” by sending MPs a letter - see there template.
News: 20 January 2026
5 things you should know
TODAY is the Third Reading of the government’s Chagos Islands sovereignty treaty bill handing the Chagos Islands’ sovereignty to Mauritius. Here are 5 things you should know - by Tessa Clarke, Editor, THE CHAGOS FILES
News: 12 January 2026
EXCLUSIVE
–
EXCLUSIVE –
report RE-EVICTED
the moral scandal of the homeless Chagossians in Britain
coming soon
Meet Emma’s* Chagossian family. Her relatives originated from the Chagos Islands and Britain deported them by force. In mainland Britain the family was evicted from council-provided accommodation.
THE CHAGOS FILES
we investigate
Reporter Tessa Clarke and the team investigate stories and ideas. We produce reports, books and documentaries. For you.
THE CHAGOS FILES is our current journalism project investigating the UK Government’s undemocratic Chagos Islands sovereignty deal.
Sixty years ago the British government removed several thousand people living on The Chagos Islands, a British overseas territory in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Chagossian people and their families were taken against their will mainly to Mauritius, the Seychelles and the UK.
Since then those born on the islands and their descendants have been denied the democratic right to return to their homeland and to self-determination.
At a time of geopolitical realignment and changing ideology that increasingly ignores national boundaries and people's claims of sovereignty, THE CHAGOS FILES reveals the new ways governments frustrate the democratic demands of the Chagossian people.
Help us investigate how actions by Governments and international courts on this issue undermine democracy for us all.
DEBATE:
AT THE BATTLE OF IDEAS FESTIVAL
CHAGOS: IS THERE A DEMOCRATIC SOLUTION?
SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER, 15:45—17:00, COUNCIL ROOM, CHURCH HOUSE, WESTMINSTER, LONDON
Speakers: Tessa Clarke, Bernadette Dugasse, James Heartfield, Lord Ross Kempsell | Chair: Fraser Myers
Government cancels leading Chagossian campaigner
EXCLUSIVE: 8 September 2025; updated 10 September 2025
report by Tessa Clarke, Editor
Opinion: 18 June 2025
With rising political activity in parliament and criticism of the Chagos Islands treaty by committees in the UN, how can the democratic rights for all Chagossians finally be centre stage? - by Tessa Clarke and Alexia Psalti, THE CHAGOS FILES
News: 27 May 2025
EXCLUSIVE
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EXCLUSIVE –
An international group of Chagossian organisations claim the UK’s Chagos Islands treaty negotiating process is racist
– by Tessa Clarke
Chagos Islanders are unlikely to be able to return to their homeland despite Britain’s landmark agreement to transfer sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius, The Times reports.
News: 22 April 2025