Chagossians

The Chagossians (also: Chagossier, Chagos islanders, in their language Sagosien ) or Ilois ( in their language " islanders " ) are an ethnic group of mixed Malagasy, Mozambican, Indian and French descent, which until the late 18th century to their forced resettlement in the late 1960s on Diego Garcia and other islands of the Chagos archipelago was established. Today, thousands of people chagossianischer descent live mainly in Mauritius, the UK and the Seychelles.

Their language is the based on the French Creole Chagos Creole.

History

1783 was the influential sugar and coconut plantation owner Pierre Marie Le Normand from Mauritius from the former French colonial power a concession to build on the uninhabited island of Diego Garcia, a coconut plantation. A year later, brought a ship 79 Mozambican and Malagasy slaves, some qualified free black workers and building materials for the plantation on the island. Also operated with slave labor - - 1790-1810 three more coconut plantations and a fishing village were built. Also on other islands of the Chagos Archipelago plantations were established and slaves imported.

Beginning of the 19th century came the Chagos Archipelago under British colonial rule and was connected to the Colony of Mauritius. In 1826 the population of 375 slaves, nine whites, 22 free people of color and 42 lepers. Most Chagossians migrated to the abolition of slavery in 1835 as a fisherman, farmers and coconut plantation workers. Especially indentured laborers from India arrived on the islands and mingled with the already resident population that largely converted to Catholicism. By 1880 the population of the Chagos Archipelago had grown to about 760.

From the outside world, the Chagossians were largely cut off because just passed two or three times a year, regular boat connections that brought supplies, residents and immigrants transported and copra and took coconut oil for sale in Mauritius. This changed for a few years, as in 1882 on Diego Garcia, a Bekohlungsstation for steamship lines was built by the Indian Ocean. By 1888 as more workers arrived from Somalia, England, Greece and Italy, and regularly laid ships from Australia and Europe. When the station was closed in the late 1880s due to financial problems, returned the Chagos islands back to their isolation. The insulation also their own, French -based Creole Chagos began to emerge as the language of the Chagossians, which is related to the Seselwa and the Morisyen.

Resettlement

1965 Mauritius became independent, while the Chagos Islands to the British Indian Ocean Territory were. The following year, Britain leased the archipelago for 50 years in the United States who built a military base on Diego Garcia. For this, the islands were declared a prohibited area and forcibly relocated the then 1500-2000 Chagossians in the years 1967-1973 to Mauritius and the Seychelles. In Mauritius, the evacuees were often faced precarious living conditions. Today there 5,000 to 8,000 people chagossianischer descent live reported variously mainly in slums in Port Louis. Others live in the UK or in the Seychelles.

Judicial dispute about the right of return

To date, the Chagossians' struggle against British and international dishes for their right to return. In 2000, they were a British court, but had no consequences. 2002 Foreign Secretary Jack Straw signed a document by which the Chagossianern British citizenship is granted. 2003, the High Court ruled in a controversial ruling that the Chagossianern due any compensation from the UK. In 2004, Queen Elizabeth II issued an Order-in -Council, which banned the Chagossians from their homeland. In May 2006 the High Court of Justice this Order-in -Council declared but illegal. This in turn has been challenged by the Government and on appeal to the Court of Appeal ( Court of Appeal ). In February 2007, the President of Mauritius, quit in protest against the " barbaric " treatment of the Chagossians from the Commonwealth threatened. In May 2007, the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the Chagossians. The government appealed further to the House of Lords, which ruled in 2008 against the Chagossians. In contrast to the European Court of Human Rights has been charged. End of 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that it had no jurisdiction over the cause of the Chagossians. The beginning of 2013 have been filed against the United Kingdom, the Chagossians action before the UN tribunal in The Hague.

In April 2012, an international petition to the United States was filed to ask the White House about to review the case of the Chagossians. An official response has been published on the petition the White House site. In it, the responsibility for the fall of the Chagossians to the United Kingdom is referenced.

The lease agreement with the U.S. over the Chagos Archipelago expire in 2016.