November 2007 news roundup

• As everyone probably knows now, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has decided to go ahead with its appeal to the House of Lords despite being told that they will have to pay all the costs whatever the outcome. This action by the FCO ignores three court rulings, UN Resolution 194 and numerous EU directives on human rights as well as natural justice. The powers-that-be also ignored a letter in the Times (3 Nov) urging the Prime Minister to accept the right of the Chagossians to return to their islands, signed by MPs from all three major parties, MEPs and members of the House of Lords, showing how wide-ranging is the support for the exiles.

  
  

• A big thank you to all who put your names to the petition on Number 10’s website (“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to drop the Appeal against the Chagos Islanders’ right to go home”). This was only posted for a week and gathered a remarkable 630 names in that time putting it in the top 4% which is astonishing, a supporter pointed out, for a petition that didn’t involve fox-hunting or the closing of a hospital!

  
  

• The petition closed just as an excellent article by Martin Fletcher was published in the Times. Simon Israel did an excellent item for Channel 4 News which included interviews with David Snoxell (former High Commissioner to Mauritius) and Hengride Permal of the Chagos Island Community Association. An unnamed blogger wrote an interesting article about joining the picket at Downing Street.

  
  

• David Snoxell gave a very well-received lecture at Bristol University on 7 November entitled “Expulsion From Paradise – the Chagos Archipelago”. He described the forced expulsion from the islands of its indigenous people in the 1960s and 1970s as “one of the worst violations of fundamental human rights perpetrated by the United kingdom in the twentieth century.”

  
  

• On 2 November the Chagos Refugees Group of Mauritius held a deceased day celebration. Oliver Bancoult said: “Most people on that day visit their parents’ graves but we Chagossians are very sad for not having access to our beloved parents’ graves in Chagos. Therefore about a hundred of us decided to put our flowers in front of the British High Commission Office in Port Louis. A time of prayer was made to pay tribute to our beloved. After the ceremony, I received a phone call from the British High Commissioner, Dr John Murton, asking me to meet him in his office. I was surprised when I arrived there to see a US Officer who was on a visit to Mauritius. The High Commissioner told me the Officer would take some of the flowers placed by the Commission with him to Diego Garcia to put in our cemetery. We all chose some flowers for him to take with him. We told the British High Commissioner we still wish to be able to do this for ourselves in our birthplace soon.”

  
  

• Dr Laura Jeffery has just been spending some time in Mauritius and was able to visit some of the homes that have been improved thanks to the donations you have sent for that purpose. The materials your money buys are basics such as corrugated sheets, wooden posts, nails and bags of cement. There is still much to do as there are still many needy households.

  
  

• From Allen Vincatassin in Crawley (British Indian Ocean People’s Party) we learn that the Court of Appeal has ruled that Chagossians (British passport holders) are not entitled to jobseekers allowance or housing benefit until they can get on their feet. This is because they have not been “habitually resident” in the country. Apparently, Irish citizens living in the UK are entitled to this help because of “historical and geographical connections” – but not the Chagossians.

  
  

• Hengride Permal wishes to thank everyone who attended the picket at Downing Street on 10 November, where they handed in a letter for the Prime Minister. A reply has been sent to say the letter has been received and will be considered.

  
  

• The use of Diego Garcia for “special rendition” is an ongoing issue. In light of recent EU reports, Andrew Tyrie MP asked the Foreign Secretary “what steps the government took to ascertain whether the a) processing and b) other administration relating to the rendition of detainees has been undertaken on Diego Garcia by US agencies.”
  
  Meg Munn (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, FCO) replied: “There is no US facility for foreign detainees on Diego Garcia... The US have repeatedly given us assurances that no detainees, prisoners of war…are being held on DG.” She went on to say: “The Government co-operated fully with the Council of Europe’s inquiry last year, together with an inquiry on similar issues by the European Parliament. At that time the Government explained that we have carried out extensive searches of official records and found no evidence of detainees being rendered through the UK, or Overseas Territories, since 1997, where there were substantial grounds to believe there was a real risk of torture.”
  
  Perhaps, if one of Mr Tyrie’s constituents is reading this, they could find out how reassured he was by Meg Munn’s answer, especially in the light of an article in the Guardian on 19 October which quotes a retired four-star US general who has spoken twice in public about the use of DG for holding prisoners.