{"id":9298,"date":"2022-02-28T04:00:22","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=9298"},"modified":"2022-02-28T11:27:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T19:27:57","slug":"biot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/biot\/","title":{"rendered":"British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0British Indian Ocean Territory\u00a0(BIOT) is a\u00a0British Overseas Territory<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0United Kingdom<\/a>\u00a0situated in the\u00a0Indian Ocean<\/a>\u00a0halfway between\u00a0Tanzania<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Indonesia<\/a>. The territory comprises the seven\u00a0atolls<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Chagos Archipelago<\/a> with over 1,000 individual islands\u00a0\u2013 many very small\u00a0\u2013 amounting to a total land area of 60 square kilometers (23\u00a0sq\u00a0mi).<\/sup>\u00a0The largest and most southerly island is\u00a0Diego Garcia<\/a>, 27\u00a0km2<\/sup>\u00a0(10\u00a0sq\u00a0mi), the site of a\u00a0Joint Military Facility<\/a> of the United Kingdom and the United States.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
BIOT on the Globe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The only inhabitants are US and British military personnel and associated contractors, who collectively number around 3,000 (2018 figures).<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0forced removal of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago<\/a>\u00a0occurred between 1968 and 1973. The\u00a0Chagossians<\/a>, then numbering about 2,000 people, were expelled by the\u00a0UK government<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Mauritius<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Seychelles<\/a>\u00a0in order to construct the military base. Today, the exiled Chagossians are still trying to return, saying that the forced expulsion and dispossession was unlawful, but the UK government has repeatedly denied them the\u00a0right of return<\/a>. The islands are off-limits to Chagossians, casual tourists, and the media.<\/p>\n

Since the 1980s, the Government of\u00a0Mauritius<\/a>\u00a0has\u00a0sought to regain control<\/a>\u00a0over the Chagos Archipelago, which was separated from the then British Colony of Mauritius by the UK in 1965 to form the British Indian Ocean Territory. A February 2019\u00a0advisory opinion<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0International Court of Justice<\/a>\u00a0called for the islands to be given to Mauritius. Since this, the\u00a0United Nations General Assembly<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea<\/a>\u00a0have reached similar decisions.<\/p>\n

History:<\/h2>\n

Maldivian mariners<\/a>\u00a0knew the Chagos Islands well.<\/sup>\u00a0In Maldivian lore, they are known as\u00a0F\u014dlhavahi<\/i>\u00a0or\u00a0Hollhavai<\/i>\u00a0(the latter name in the closer Southern Maldives). According to Southern Maldivian oral tradition, traders and fishermen were occasionally lost at sea and got stranded on one of the islands of the Chagos. Eventually they were rescued and brought back home.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Map of Diego Garcia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, these islands were judged to be too far away from the seat of the\u00a0Maldivian crown<\/a> to be settled permanently by them. Thus, for many centuries the Chagos were ignored by their northern neighbors.<\/p>\n

Early settlement:<\/span><\/h3>\n

The islands of\u00a0Chagos Archipelago<\/a>\u00a0were charted by\u00a0Vasco da Gama<\/a>\u00a0in the early 16th century, and then claimed in the 18th century by France as a possession of Mauritius. They were first settled in the 18th century by African slaves and Indian contractors brought by Franco-Mauritians to found coconut plantations.<\/sup>\u00a0In 1810, Mauritius was captured by the United Kingdom, and France subsequently ceded the territory in the\u00a0Treaty of Paris<\/a>\u00a0in 1814.<\/p>\n

Formation of BIOT:<\/span><\/h3>\n

In 1965, the United Kingdom split the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius and the islands of\u00a0Aldabra<\/a>,\u00a0Farquhar<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Desroches<\/a>\u00a0(Des Roches) from the\u00a0Seychelles<\/a> to form the British Indian Ocean Territory. The purpose was to allow the construction of military facilities for the mutual benefit of the United Kingdom and the United States. The islands were formally established as an overseas territory of the United Kingdom on 8 November 1965.<\/p>\n

A few weeks after the decision to detach the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, the\u00a0United Nations General Assembly<\/a>\u00a0passed Resolution 2066 on 16 December 1965, which stated its belief that this detachment of part of the colonial territory of Mauritius was against customary international law as recorded earlier in the\u00a0Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples<\/a>\u00a0of 14 December 1960. This stated that “Any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0Largely because of the detachment of the islands, the\u00a0International Court of Justice<\/a> determined in 2019 that the decolonization of Mauritius was still not lawfully completed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Officer’s Club on Diego Garcia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mauritius became an independent\u00a0Commonwealth realm<\/a>\u00a0in March 1968 and subsequently became a republic, also within the Commonwealth, in March 1992.<\/p>\n

On 23 June 1976, Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches were returned to the Seychelles which became independent as a republic on 29 June 1976; the islands now form part of the\u00a0Outer Islands<\/a>\u00a0district of the Seychelles. Subsequently, the territory has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the\u00a0Chagos Archipelago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Forced depopulation:<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
British diplomatic cable signed by D.A. Greenhill, 1966, relating to the depopulation of the Chagos Archipelago.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In 1966, the UK Government purchased the privately owned\u00a0copra<\/a>\u00a0plantations and closed them. Over the next five years, the British authorities forcibly and clandestinely removed the entire population of about 2,000 people, known as\u00a0Chagossians<\/a>\u00a0(or Ilois), from Diego Garcia and two other Chagos atolls,\u00a0Peros Banhos<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Salomon Islands<\/a>, to Mauritius.<\/sup>\u00a0In 1971, the United Kingdom and the United States signed a treaty, leasing the island of Diego Garcia to the\u00a0US military<\/a>\u00a0for the purposes of building a large air and naval base on the island. The deal was important to the UK Government, as the United States granted it a substantial discount on the purchase of\u00a0Polaris nuclear missiles<\/a>\u00a0in return for the use of the islands as a base.<\/sup> The strategic location of the island was also significant at the center of the Indian Ocean, and to counter any\u00a0Soviet<\/a>\u00a0threat in the region.<\/p>\n

During the 1980s, Mauritius asserted a claim to sovereignty for the territory, citing the 1965 separation as illegal under international law, despite their apparent agreement at the time. The UK does not recognize Mauritius’s claim, but has agreed to cede the territory to Mauritius when it is no longer required for defense purposes.<\/sup> The Seychelles also made a sovereignty claim on the islands.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Diego Garcia Airbase<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The islanders, who now mainly reside in Mauritius and the Seychelles, have continually asserted their right to return to Diego Garcia, winning important legal victories in the\u00a0High Court<\/a> of England and Wales in 2000, 2006 and 2007. However, in the High Court and Court of Appeal in 2003 and 2004, the islanders’ application for further compensation on top of the \u00a314.5 million value package of compensation they had already received was dismissed by the court.<\/p>\n

On 11 May 2006, the High Court ruled that a 2004 Order in Council preventing the Chagossians’ resettlement of the islands was unlawful, and consequently that the Chagossians were entitled to return to the outer islands of the Chagos Archipelago.<\/sup>\u00a0On 23 May 2007, this was confirmed by the Court of Appeal.<\/sup>\u00a0In a visit sponsored by the UK Government, the islanders visited Diego Garcia and other islands on 3 April 2006 for humanitarian purposes, including the tending of the graves of their ancestors.<\/sup>\u00a0On 22 October 2008, the UK Government won an\u00a0appeal to the House of Lords<\/a>\u00a0regarding the\u00a0royal prerogative<\/a> used to continue excluding the Chagossians from their homeland.<\/p>\n

The UK Government established a marine reserve in April 2010, to mixed reactions from Chagossians. While the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office claimed that it was an environmental move as well as a necessary move to improve the coral populations off east Africa, and therefore sub-Saharan marine supplies, some Chagossians claimed that the reserve would prevent any resettlement due to the inability to fish in protected areas. The Chagossian UK-based Diego Garcian Society stated that it welcomed the marine reserve, noting that it was in the interest of Chagossians to have the area protected while they were exiled and that it could be renegotiated upon resettlement. The Foreign Office claimed the reserve was made “without prejudice to the outcome of proceedings before the <\/span>European Court of Human Rights<\/a>“.<\/span><\/sup> (That court’s 2012 decision was not in favor\u00a0of the Islanders anyway.)<\/p>\n

Development of BIOT:<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
View of Diego Garcia, showing military base.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Work on the military base commenced in 1971, with a large airbase with several long range runways constructed, as well as a harbor suitable for large naval vessels. Although classed as a joint UK\/US base, in practice it is primarily staffed by the US military, although the UK maintains a garrison at all times, and Royal Air Force<\/a>\u00a0long range patrol aircraft are deployed there. The\u00a0United States Air Force<\/a>\u00a0used the base during the 1991\u00a0Gulf War<\/a>\u00a0and the 2001\u00a0War in Afghanistan<\/a>, as well as the 2003\u00a0Iraq War<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1990, the first BIOT flag was unfurled. This flag, which also contains the\u00a0Union Jack<\/a>, has depictions of the Indian Ocean, where the islands are located, in the form of white and blue wavy lines and also a palm tree rising above the British crown.<\/sup> The US-UK arrangement which established the territory for defense purposes initially was in place from 1966 to 2016, and has subsequently been renewed to continue until 2036. The announcement was accompanied by a pledge of \u00a340 million in compensation to former residents.<\/p>\n

International rulings:<\/span><\/h3>\n

On 22 May 2019, the\u00a0United Nations General Assembly<\/a>\u00a0(UNGA) adopted a resolution, affirming that “the Chagos Archipelago forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius”, citing the February 2019\u00a0advisory opinion<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0International Court of Justice<\/a>\u00a0(ICJ) on the separation of the archipelago from Mauritius.<\/sup>\u00a0In its advisory opinion, the Court concluded that \u201cthe process of decolonization of Mauritius was not lawfully completed when that country acceded to independence\u201d and that \u201cthe United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible\u201d.<\/sup>\u00a0The motion was approved by a majority vote with 116 member states voting for and 6 against.<\/sup>\u00a0On 28 January 2021, the United Nation’s\u00a0International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea<\/a> ruled, in a dispute between Mauritius and Maldives on their maritime boundary, that the United Kingdom has no sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, and that Mauritius is sovereign there. The United Kingdom disputes and does not recognize the tribunal’s decision.<\/sup><\/p>\n

The Universal Postal Union (UPU), which has jurisdiction over international mail among treaty signatory states, voted in 2021 to ban the use of British postage stamps on mail to and from BIOT, instead requiring Mauritian stamps to be used.<\/p>\n

Geography:<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Map of the British Indian Ocean Territory<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
The territory is an archipelago of 55 islands,<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0the largest being Diego Garcia, the only inhabited island which accounts for almost half of the territory’s total land area (60\u00a0km<\/span>2<\/sup>). The terrain is flat and low, with most areas not exceeding 2\u00a0m (6\u00a0ft 7\u00a0in) above sea level. In 2010, 545,000 square kilometers\u00a0(210,426\u00a0sq\u00a0mi) of ocean around the islands was declared a marine reserve.<\/sup><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The\u00a0British Indian Ocean Territory (Constitution) Order 2004<\/a>\u00a0defines the territory as comprising the following islands or groups of islands:<\/p>\n