Sir, The majority verdict of the Law Lords (Oct 22), denying the right of the Chagossians to return to their homeland, the Chagos archipelago, from which they were exiled in the early Seventies, is a sad day for the Chagossians and those who have campaigned for their return.

It is a pyrrhic victory for the FCO. The verdict brings to an end a wasted decade of costly litigation paid for by the FCO. In that time three courts and seven senior judges have restored and upheld the Chagossians’ right of abode. Two of the law lords were also of that view. The 2004 Orders in Council, which overturned the 2000 High Court judgment, restoring the right of the Chagossians to return, was a device that should not have gone beyond the officials who conceived it. There were other ways of satisfying official discomfort over the cost and feasibility of resettlement and the security of the US base on Diego Garcia, 150 miles away from the Outer Islands where settlement was envisaged.

It is to be hoped that the Foreign Secretary will say how he plans to redress this manifest breach of the fundamental human rights of the Chagossian people, who are British.

But it is also for Parliament to take the lead through the All Party Parliamentary Group on Chagos that is being established. The FCO should revisit the outdated 2002 feasibility study. But any future settlement must take account of the wishes of the Chagossians and the preservation of this, the most pristine tropical marine environment on the planet. The Chagossians are committed to conserving this.

David Snoxell

British High Commissioner to Mauritius 2000-04

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