THE British government is guilty of historic and ongoing “crimes against humanity” over its treatment of exiled Chagos Islanders, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. 

In a damning report published today, the group called on Britain to pay full and unconditional reparations to generations affected by the forced displacement of Chagossians from their homeland by Britain in the 1960s and ’70s, as well as the right to return. 

Britain agreed to lease the island of Diego Garcia — the largest of the 60 small islands of the Chagos Archipelago — to the US to allow it to build a military base in 1967. 

Both governments devised a secret plan to deport more than 1,000 islanders to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for the base.

Since then, Chagossians have fought for the right to return, which has been repeatedly refused by the government. 

Launching the report at a press conference in Mauritius this morning, HRW African Division director Mausi Segun told reporters that the US and Britain had committed a crime against humanity by forcibly displacing the Chagossians. 

In addition, she said that Britain was guilty of two further crimes against humanity: the prevention of the return of the population, which she described as an “ongoing crime”, and the racial persecution of the islanders. 

Ms Segun said that private notes by senior British officials at the time “show that racial discrimination was a key component of the treatment of Chagossians.

“This is also apparent in that Chagossians — being predominantly of African and Indian origin — are treated significantly differently from residents of other islands where Britain retains significant military bases including Cyprus and the Falkland islands,” she said. 

The report, titled That’s When The Nightmare Started, is based on interviews with more than 40 Chagossians and officials from the US, Britain and Mauritius. 

Chagossians interviewed said that they were forced to live in abject poverty following their expulsion, with some saying that people, including children, died from economic hardship and “the emotional devastation” of being torn from their homeland. 

The report also uncovered new evidence suggesting that the forced evictions were primarily carried out so that Britain could falsely claim to the United Nations that the islands did not have a permanent population. 

By evicting the inhabitants, Britain did not have to tell the UN about its continued colonial rule over the islands, HRW said.  

It also found that the British authorities had apparently deceived exiled Chagos Islanders in Mauritius into giving up their right to return to their homeland. 

A Foreign Office spokesman said that it categorically rejects HRW’s characterisation of events.

“Britain has made clear its deep regret about the manner in which Chagossians were removed in the late 1960s and early 1970s,” he said. 

“We remain committed to supporting Chagossians including through a significant support package and our new British citizenship route for Chagossians launched last November.”

But Chagos Refugee Group president Olivier Bancoult told reporters today: “They always say that they have deep regret to what happened to our people but they never come with a good will to put an end to our suffering.”

HRW chief advocacy officer Bruno Stagno said that it was “fully in the power of the British and US government to “immediately cease the commission of these crimes against humanity.”

“Through political will they can repair the damage done, they can right the wrongs, and they can end the nightmare now,” he said.