If MPs vote “yes” to the deal, who will stand up for Chagossians’ rights?

OPINION:

by Tessa Clarke, Editor, THE CHAGOS FILES

Campaigners against the UK Government’s Chagos Islands sovereignty treaty with Mauritius are still hoping that President Trump may U-turn against it. Again. Flip-flopping for the fourth time.

Dubbed by British opposition campaigners as the “surrender deal”, “toxic,” “insane”, and now linked to the Mandelson scandal as probably involving corruption because the friend of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was the UK Ambassador to Washington last year helping to seal the deal, campaigners have been ecstatic at recent events going their way.

A mix of some Chagossian campaign leaders, senior Conservative and Reform UK party leaders, Lords, Friends of the British Overseas Territories (FOTBOT), the Great British PAC and other patriots groups and individuals, some lawyers and other supporters publicly voiced their hope that the treaty Bill will now be withdrawn.

Misley Mandarin, voted First Minister of a Government-In-Exile by his Chagossian campaign group BIOT Citizen, even offered to name one of the Chagos Islands after Trump - Trump Island? Boosted by the US President’s recent change in diplomatic direction, on 16 February Mandarin landed by boat on Ile de Coin, an island that is part of the Peros Banhos atoll, one of seven that make up the Chagos Islands. Along with his father Michel (74), two other Chagossians and five supporters, they have been making camp and live-streaming to the world’s media ever since.

Despite the US President’s constant U-turns what those negotiating the treaty point out is that Trump was always very likely to back the deal as part of a new geopolitical realignment and four years in the making. If not, he would risk annoying lots of countries in the region such as India, most nations in Africa, and some Indian Ocean perimeter countries such as the Seychelles who support the handover as a step towards further decolonization in the region. Opposing the deal would require going head to head with the United Nations too. The majority of member states (116) voted in favour of a resolution in 2019, with 6 opposed and 56 abstaining, asking Britain to end its administration of Chagos within six months. That said, Trump has warned that if the deal doesn’t work out, he will use military force to seize Diego Garcia, the Chagos Islands’ UK-US military base. The US administration puts national interest above international law.

The UK Government’s treaty Bill has been temporarily withdrawn from the House of Lords. Yet it will soon return. Delays are caused by various political party opposition amendments, a case brought by Mandarin defending his right to permanently resettle on the islands and, a Judicial Review that challenges the sovereignty deal on the grounds it does not guarantee the rights to re-settlement and self-determination (also brought by Mandarin and his supporters).

Once the Bill arrives in the House of Commons, MPs will be asked to vote on it. Labour have a parliamentary majority, and with potential Liberal Democrat support, look set to formally ratify a Treaty that has divided Chagossians, British political parties and Western allies.

So who will stand up for Chagossians to resettle on the islands and self-determination once the treaty is ratified?

Legal challenges to the Government’s treaty deal will not stop despite setbacks. For decades Chagossian campaigners have brought court cases in London. The most recent was a High Court injunction case against the treaty signing last year brought by Bertrice Pompe, a member of Indigenous Chagossian People (ICP). It failed. The treaty was signed the same day.

Hope also still rests with some campaigners that MPs won’t get to vote on the deal. They view current amendments in the House of Lords that delay progress of the Bill through the Houses of Parliament as giving them enough time to campaign for it to be withdrawn.

In addition some British Chagossian campaigners such as the ICP group and Chagossian Voices have turned to the United Nations for help. And no doubt will continue to do so. Despite some progress the UN cannot intervene to stop two democratically elected leaders signing a sovereignty handover treaty, especially an event the UN’s own General Assembly voted for.

Campaigners’ appeal to unelected authorities such as the House of Lords or the UN to overturn an elected government’s policy is understandable given the failure to achieve their rights after decades of campaigning, meeting MPs and Foreign Office and British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) civil servants, and legal action. Yet continuing to focus on non-democratic channels to achieve rights outside of parliament and without the support of the public has confirmed cynicism in democratic processes, the very thing Chagossians need to rely on to achieve their rights and broaden their support. 

Chagossian campaigners who voted Labour in the 2024 General Election now tell me they have great regret, however. Will they put their faith in other political parties?

There has been a marked rise in support for Chagossian rights by opposition political parties and British patriot campaigners in the past two years. Priti Patel MP, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, has launched the Private Members Bill British Indian Ocean Territory (Sovereignty and Constitutional Arrangements) Bill  to “promote the rights of British Chagossians who have been betrayed” and require explicit parliamentary approval before any sovereignty changes can be implemented. It’s hoped a majority of MPs will support this. British Chagossian campaigners remember, however, that past Conservative governments did not resettle the Chagossians on the islands when they had the chance. Then Foreign Secretary David Cameron (2023-2024) ruled that Chagossian resettlement was “not possible.”

Some Chagossian group leaders encourage members to vote Reform UK. The political party has vowed to tear up the Chagos Islands sovereignty treaty if they win the next General Election and support Chagossians’ right to self-determination. Richard Tice MP, deputy leader, commented on GB News this month that the situation is “still evolving.” Meanwhile Nigel Farage, Reform UK leader, flew to the Maldives last week in an aborted “humanitarian” mission to visit Chagossians on the Chagos Islands on a boat carrying aid. Authorities in the Maldives warned Farage however that apparently the British authorities did not give him permission to go to the islands and he would be stopped.

Overall it seems British Chagossians campaigners aren’t sure who to rely on, working with different MPs, political party leaders and other British campaigners at various times.

One thing Chagossians can depend on is their own tenacity and self-believe in their political cause. Perhaps the different Chagossian campaign groups in the UK, Mauritius and around the world can unite and start to win the British and Mauritian public’s support for the right to resettle on the islands and self-determination, whatever the outcome of the treaty Bill going through parliament.

@tessaclarkelive

Tessa Clarke/23 Feb 2026