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Posted by Bashir E Khan on 1/5/2007, 8:32 pm, in reply to "Re: DIEGO GARCIA." In 2003, UK Judges restored their British Citizenship , hence the slow but significant exodus from Mauritius to the UK. JR : There is a fundamental difference between the British Chagossians and all other British Overseas citizens that you have mentioned : And this is, that the chagossians cannot up to now return to their homeland, although in 2006, 2 High Court Judges had ruled that 2 orders in Council by the Queen stopping the Chagossains from returning, were repugnant and illegal. But the UK Govt had appealed against this judgement , which was heard last February. Any time now, we should know the outcome of the Appeal. If the rights of return is upheld, and provided the UK Govt do not appeal to the House of Lords, then the UK Govt must start preparing the islands to receive the Chagossians. Lets wait and see! In his award- winning documemntary STEALING A NATION, JOHN PILGER talked about racism of the British when comapring the Chagossians with the White Falklanders.Of Course,in their case , British blood was lost in order to liberate them. There are some 500-800 Chagossians in the UK, and 90% are based in Crawley in West Sussex . Many of them do menial jobs at Gatwick Airport- Cleaning etc. It must be remmebered that coming to UK with a British passport do not necessarily open doors for economic success. There is a law, which says that any persons including British Chagossians , legally returning to the UK , cannot access any State Benefits for the first 6 months- the infamous Habitual Resident Test. As a result of this , they are facing extreme difficulties when they arrived- understandably they bring little money with them, most of them have to borrow in Mauritius for the ticket and even to apply for the UK Passport,. Without a fixed address, it is also difficult to process applications for theeir NI Number , oh yes, another catch 22, try to open a bank account with proof of address!! I am doing my best, from London ,to assist, especially in interpreting but also in challenging on a case basis , the Habitual resident test. Challenging bureaucracy, de surcroit, British Bureaucracy, is not fun, and certainly dont expect result overnight. The challenges facing them ,are not uncommon among new arrivals in any country- I am sure, expats in Australia , will identify with these challenges but what I worried most,is that they turn to alcoholism when they going get tough, as many did in Mauritius with fatal consequences. I will make an appeal to all of you, living in the UK, to visit them, to help them with a job , with translations, garden jobs etc or better still, if you have a spare room, that would be a great help. For more info, contact me by email.
87.74.75.110
On Diego Garcia:
I am the UK Representative of the Chagos Refugees Group CRG , Olivier bancoult being the leader based in Mauritius. I would like to comment as follows:
Diego Garcians is a misleading terminology as it excluded those islanders coming from Peros Banhos and the Solomons islands. Those 3 islands were the only ones populated by CHAGOSSSIANS. There are some 65 islands altogether comprising the Chagos Archipelagos.
Kar El : At the time of their illegal removal from their homeland, all of them were British By right, so in effect , could have opted to come to Britain , had they wished so or had they been given that choice.But they were treated very badly and herded like cattle before being deported to the Seycheles and Mauritius. In fact, horses , which were also being removed from the islands were given better treatment than the Chagossians on the ship that transported them.
In reality, even their legal status, that is, their nationality among other things, were hidden from them. We only discovered this during the London Court case in 2000. We also learned that Chagossians were also to be given Mauritian citizenship upon independence in 1968. True, all those who ended up in Mauritius were , at least on paper, Mauritian Nationals and those very few that has travelled outside Mauritius before 2003 to Reunion Island or Rodrigues, for example, did so on a Mauritian Passport.
But in my view, those who cannot speak english, are facing harsher times. Many of them have CPE's level only.
Bashir Khan
London
P.S. I do not visit this site regularly , although I must commend Clancy for it. Great site!
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