Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report Wednesday accusing the United States and the United Kingdom of crimes against humanity for actions in the Chagos Islands 60 years ago. The two countries collaborated in the forced removal of the Chagossians, an indigenous population from the Islands, from 1965 to 1973. The Chagossians were forced from their homes and left in Mauritius and Seychelles to live in poverty.

The Chagos Islands, located in the Indian Ocean, were part of the British colony of Mauritius. HRW alleges the UK and US governments covertly created a plan to establish a new colony for the UK with a naval base for the US on Diego Garcia, the largest of the inhabited Chagos Islands. The agreement allowed the UK to remain in control of the islands and authorized the removal of the islands’ populations. When the colony of Mauritius gained independence in 1968, the UK remained in control of the Chagos Islands through its newly established colony, the British Indian Ocean Territory. Moreover, HRW alleges, the UK falsely declared that the Chagos Islands “had no permanent population” in order to avoid reporting to the UN about its continuing colonization. 

The UK provided little compensation to the Chagossians and offered citizenship and there is no talk of reparations. The US continues to deny responsibility towards the removed Chagossians.

HRW has determined the countries’ relocation of the Chagossians and continued mistreatment has risen to the level of crimes against humanity. HRW specifically calls out the continued colonial rule by the UK in the Islands and the racial and ethnic discrimination against the Chagossians. 

HRW’s report utilized interviews with Chagossian people and document analysis to investigate the abuses in the Chagos Islands. The report details the conditions of relocated Chagossians, as well as current efforts to return home.