Türk welcomes deal to return Chagos islands to Mauritius, says pending treaty should ensure human rights

GENEVA – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Friday welcomed the announcement that, following two years of negotiations, the United Kingdom and Mauritius agreed to return the Chagos islands to Mauritius, subject to final treaty.

“The political agreement to return sovereignty of the Chagos islands to Mauritius is a historic step in decolonization and realizing the right to self-determination guaranteed in international human rights law,” said Türk. “At the current time of increasing resort to force, it is also a testament to the fact that peaceful, negotiated settlement of long-standing international disputes remains achievable.”

In 2019, the International Court of Justice found that the decolonization of Mauritius was not conducted in a manner consistent with the rights of peoples to self-determination.

Yesterday, the two countries’ leaders announced that the agreement, based on international law, would lead to a treaty addressing wrongs of the past, opening room for resettlement on all islands other than Diego Garcia, and the United Kingdom capitalising a new trust fund alongside other support for Chagossians.

“I welcome these elements of commitment as significant steps forward from a human rights perspective,” said the High Commissioner, emphasizing that the final agreement to cast these into final form needed to be reached in consultation with the Chagossian people.

“The treaty to come needs to fully embrace human-rights driven solutions to the outstanding issues of remedy and reparation of the wrongs of the past, and to enable the Chagossian people to return to their ancestral territories in position to build sustainable and prosperous futures,” he said.