Chagossians: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Ethnic classification for the pre-1969 inhabitants of the Chagos Islands}}

| regions = {{unbulleted list|[[United Kingdom]]|[[Mauritius]]|[[Seychelles]]}} Smaller populations:{{unbulleted list|[[France]]|[[Switzerland]]}}

| languages = [[Chagossian Creole]]{{·}} [[Mauritian Creole]]{{·}} [[Seychellois Creole]]{{·}} [[English language|English]]{{·}} [[French language|French]]

| related_groups = [[Mauritian Creoles]], [[Seychellois Creole people| Seychellois Creoles]], Other [[Creole people]], [[Black Africans]]

The Chagossians speak [[Chagossian Creole]], a [[French-based creole language]] whose vocabulary also incorporates words originating in various African and Asian languages and is part of the [[Bourbonnais Creole]] family. Chagossian Creole is still spoken by some of their descendants in [[Mauritius]] and the [[Seychelles]]. Chagossian people living in the UK speak [[English Language|English]]. Some settled in the town of [[Crawley]] in [[West Sussex]], and the Chagossian community there numbered approximately 3,000 in 2016,<ref name="BBC-38003791">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38003791 |title=Chagos Islanders will not be allowed home, UK government says |date=16 November 2016 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=16 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024141918/http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ec55v2/live/c5v2fx |archive-date=24 October 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> which increased to 3,500 in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chagossian arrivals in Crawley {{!}} Crawley GOV |url=https://crawley.gov.uk/council-information/news-and-events/latest-news/2024/chagossian-arrivals-crawley |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=crawley.gov.uk}}</ref> Manchester also has a Chagossian community, which has included artist [[Audrey Albert]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=House |first=Manchester International Festival Blackfriars |title=MIF21 Creative Fellowships |url=https://mif.co.uk/get-involved/creative-development/mif-creative-fellowships/ |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=Manchester International Festival |language=en |archive-date=25 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525135448/https://mif.co.uk/get-involved/creative-development/mif-creative-fellowships/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In October 2024, the UK agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and stated that Mauritius "will now be free to implement a programme of resettlement on the islands of the Chagos Archipelago, other than Diego Garcia". The UK will also set up a trust fund for the scattered Chagossian diaspora, now numbering 10,000.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harding |first1=Andrew |title=UK hands sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98ynejg4l5o |access-date=3 October 2024 |work=BBC |date=3 October 2024}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=UK agrees to give sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/3/uk-agrees-to-give-sovereignty-of-the-chagos-islands-to-mauritius |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref> In 2021, Mauritius amended its Criminal Code to outlaw "Misrepresenting the sovereignty of Mauritius over any part of its territory", with the penalty of a fine or jail term up to 10 years.<ref>{{cite act

In 1965, as part of a deal to grant Mauritian independence, the UK separated the [[Chagos Archipelago]], at the time a part of its [[Mauritius]] territory, from the colony and reorganized it as the [[British Indian Ocean Territory]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/25/un-court-rejects-uk-claim-to-sovereignty-over-chagos-islands |title=UN court rejects UK's claim of sovereignty over Chagos Islands |first=Owen |last=Bowcott |date=25 February 2019 |access-date=13 April 2019 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |publisher=[[Guardian News & Media Limited]]}}</ref> The UK also falsely labelled the Chagossians, whose ancestral links to the territory go back to the late 18th century, as “transient workers” to avoid breaching International Law.<ref name=":3" /> The territory's new [[constitution]] was set out in a [[statutory instrument]] imposed unilaterally with no referendum or consultation with the Chagossians and it envisaged no democratic institutions.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-mauritius-worldcourt/world-court-britain-must-return-indian-ocean-islands-to-mauritius-idUSKCN1QE1X2 |title=World Court: Britain must return Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius |first=Stephanie |last=van den Berg |date=25 February 2019 |access-date=13 April 2019 |work=[[Reuters]]}}</ref> On 16 April 1971, the United Kingdom issued a policy called BIOT Immigration Ordinance #1 which made it a criminal offence for those without military clearance to be on the islands without a permit.<ref name=vine>{{cite book | last = Vine | first = David | title = Island of shame : the secret history of the U.S. military base on Diego Garcia | publisher = Princeton University Press | location = Princeton | year = 2009 | isbn = 9780691138695 }}</ref>