Natives of Chagos rejects Mauritius' claim on the islands

Natives of the Chagos islands have rejected Mauritian claims on the islands and expressed their displeasure over the hearing held at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).

According to a statement released by the Chagossian Voices, Mauritius and Chagos had a colonial relationship where the United Kingdom administered Chagos Islands through Mauritius during its British colonial rule.

The statement read that as Chagossians have their own language, culture and a living relationship with the islands and the oceans around it for over 200 years, they do not consider themselves Mauritian.

Additionally, since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) avoided the issue of Chagossian right to self-determination and dealt with the Mauritian right to self-determination following the question put to them by the Government of Mauritius in 2019, the statement claimed that Chagossian identity was erased when ICJ boldly referred to Chagossians as “Mauritians of Chagossian Origin”.

The statement rejected the ICJ ruling as well as the ITLOS hearings as the Chagossian community had not been represented at these hearings, while demanding a rehearing of these cases with proper representation, separate from any national government.