UN investigating accusations of ‘crimes against humanity’ by UK in Chagos deal

The application claims that the acts of the UK government could amount to "ethnic cleansing"

As per The Telegraph, officials are looking into allegations that Prime Minister Keir Starmer is violating human rights by attempting to evict native Chagossians from the archipelago who returned to the island last month.

This comes after all Chagossians were evicted from the archipelago in between 1968 and 1973 with 10,000 descendants living in exile across Mauritius, the Seychelles, and the UK.

Starmer's government had intended to hand the islands over to Mauritius in a deal which would see the military base of Diego Garcia effectively rented out by the UK on a 99-year leasehold.

However, the deal has since been put on hold due to US opposition with the Independent reporting that an alternative plan to allow the Chagossians to resettle the archipelago is being considered behind the scenes.

The application to the UN human rights commissioner has come from James Tumbridge, attorney general for the Chagossian government.

He demanded the intervention to protect the four indigenous Chagossians currently living on the islands.

The complaint mentions the PM by name and claims that the acts of the UK government amounts “to ethnic cleansing and potentially crimes against humanity” for its attempts to expel the islanders.

The letter argues that efforts to evict the four residents could be “violation of the right of indigenous peoples not to be forcibly removed from their lands”.

The application also references the forced removal of the Chagossians between 1968 and 1973.

It added that plans to cede the islands to Mauritius would “further entrench a continuing breach” of international human rights laws and also constitute a new breach.