ICJ ASKS UK TO EXPLAIN DIEGO GARCIA ACQUISITION

• In a blow to the British government, the International Court of Justice in The Hague has asked Britain to explain its decision to acquire the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean from Mauritius in 1965 and sub-lease its biggest island Diego Garcia to the United States.
• US military presence in the Indian Ocean caused considerable concern to India during the Cold War; and for many years New Delhi opposed American armed forces at Diego Garcia. 

DIEGO GARCIA:

• Diego Garcia is a tropical, footprint-shaped coral atoll located south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean. It is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).

 ISSUE:

• After purchasing the Chagos archipelago, of which Diego Garcia is a part, Britain forcibly evicted around 1,500 islanders - deporting them to Mauritius and Seychelles - to pave the way for the US military base. 
• The deportation of Chagos islanders is a matter of alleged human rights violation 

 IMPORTANCE OF DIEGO GARCIA:

• Diego Garcia is used by long range bombers belonging to the US Air Force and a staging post for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• It is widely believed that in the event the US embarks on a campaign to eliminate Iran's nuclear plants, Diego Garcia will certainly be utilized.

IMPLICATIONS FOR UK:

• The hearing will be on the basis of the UN law of the sea; and the final verdict will be binding on Britain. 
• A defeat for Britain at the ICJ could result in a return of the islanders to their original habitat. 
• Britain, when the colonial master, deliberately misled the United Nations in order to deny the birthrights of the Chagossian people, whom it uprooted and sent into bitter exile to make way for a new tenant, the United States. The US procured this breach of international law and then insisted on taking the entire area to secure its base on Diego Garcia, which it has used unlawfully for “rendition” flights (conveying prisoners to torture) and, it has been credibly alleged, to subject them to forms of ill treatment such as water-boarding.