Miriam Bak McKenna does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s response after the deadline passed was telling of the UK’s troubling attitude towards its colonial past. The tropical ecosystem enables a kaleidoscope of wildlife to thrive. In April 2010 the Chagos was designated as a marine reserve by the UK government. [23], Second, the issue of compensation and repatriation of the former inhabitants of several of the archipelago's atolls, exiled since 1973, continues in litigation and as of 23 August 2010[update] has been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights by a group of former residents. [citation needed], The remote islands make perfect undisturbed nursery sites for nests of green (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) turtles. Records from surveys of mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; reefs 30–150 m depth) in Chagos stretch back to 1905, with more extensive work conducted in the 1970s and post-2010. J Nat Hist 15:607–621, Sheppard ALS (1984) The molluscan fauna of Chagos (Indian Ocean) and an analysis of its broad distribution patterns. No. It is home to an astonishing diversity of life, and acts as a refuge for many threatened species. [citation needed], The Chagos Islands have been colonised by plants since there was sufficient soil to support them – probably less than 4,000 years. Cite as. There are no separate names for the different atolls of the Chagos in the Maldivian oral tradition. The Tribunal also found that the United Kingdom’s undertaking to return the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius when no longer needed for defence purposes is legally binding. The Chagos Archipelago. In: Griffiths JD (ed) Chagos: the 1978/79 Expedition. Initially the workers were slaves, but after 1840 they were freemen, many of whom were descended from those earlier slaves. On 31 August 1903 the Chagos Archipelago was administratively separated from the Seychelles and attached to Mauritius. The sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago is being disputed between the UK and Mauritius. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: Dinesen ZD (1977) The coral fauna of the Chagos Archipelago. Chagos Islands: UK refusal to return archipelago to Mauritius show the limits of international law November 26, 2019 11.10am EST Miriam Bak McKenna , Lund University Copyright © 2010–2020, The Conversation US, Inc. A group of Chagossians on their way to a mass during Pope Francis’s visit to Mauritius in September 2019. voted in favour of a non-binding resolution, to defend the right of the Falkland Islanders. Aquat Conserv Mar Freshwat Ecosyst 22:232–261, Sheppard CRC, Bowen BW, Chen AC et al (2013) British Indian Ocean Territory (the Chagos Archipelago): setting, connections and the marine protected area. The archipelago is located in the Indian Ocean, and forms the British Indian Ocean Territory. Commander Robert Moresby made a survey of the Chagos on behalf of the British Admiralty in 1838. [citation needed], A total of 113 species of insect have been recorded from the Chagos Islands. First, the island nation of Mauritius claims the Chagos Archipelago (which is coterminous with the BIOT), including Diego Garcia. In 2003, the UK government established an Environment (Protection and Preservation) Zone under Article 75 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. It also has one of the healthiest reef systems in the cleanest waters in the world, supporting half the total area of good quality reefs in the Indian Ocean. In 1972, the UK decided to close all the remaining plantations throughout the Chagos, and deported the Ilois to the Seychelles or Mauritius. In 1793, when the first successful colony was founded on Diego Garcia, the largest island, coconut plantations were established on many of the atolls and isolated islands of the archipelago. Consistent with earlier studies, we identify five coral species as indicative of Chagos MCEs. It is coterminous with the British Indian Ocean The island names are a mixture of Portuguese, Dutch, French, English and Ilois Creole. The then-independent Mauritian government refused to accept the islanders without payment, and in 1973, the UK gave the Mauritian government an additional £650,000 to resettle the islanders. R Core Team (2013) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. The coconut crabs on Chagos constitute one of the most undisturbed populations in the world. Portuguese seafarers named the group as Bassas de Chagas,[13] Portuguese: Chagas (wounds) referring to the Holy Wounds of the crucifixion of Jesus. The Chagos Archipelago is made up of over 55 islands. It is home to an astonishing diversity of life, and acts as a refuge for many threatened species. Rufin-Soler C, Mörner NA, Laborel J, Collina-Girard J (2014) Submarine morphology in the Maldives and holocene sea-level rise. While this opinion was not binding, it nevertheless provided a comprehensive and authoritative statement on the existing rules of international law, legitimising efforts to return the islands to Mauritian control. Aquat Conserv Mar Freshwat Ecosyst 20:543–548, Graham NAJ, Pratchett MS, McClanahan TR, Wilson SK (2013) The status of coral reef fish assemblages in the Chagos Archipelago, with implications for protected area management and climate change. In: Sheppard CRC, Seaward MRD (eds) Ecology of the Chagos Archipelago, vol 2. Sealark. The court described the UK’s tactics in obtaining control over the islands as coercive and its removal of the residents as “shameful”. Chagos News 50:34–37, Andradi-Brown DA, Gress E, Wright G et al (2016a) Reef fish community biomass and trophic structure changes across shallow to upper-mesophotic reefs in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, Caribbean. This zone extends 200 nautical miles from the islands. An independent feasibility study led to the conclusion that resettlement would be "costly and precarious". The annual mean rainfall is 2600 mm (100 inches), varying from 105 mm (4 inches) during August to 350 mm (14 inches) during January. They formed an inter-island culture called Ilois (a French Creole word meaning Islanders). , Andradi-Brown DA ( 2017 ) Exploring the twilight zone Roman Catholic Diocese of,! [ 17 ], Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to discover the is. Mauritian Ministers at the time as the Ilois, are poached to Asian. 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