Celebrating Pro Bono Week: Supporting The UK's Chagossian Community

This post is part of a series celebrating Pro Bono Week 2019 in the UK, which runs from 4 to 8 November this year, providing an opportunity to encourage, recognise and celebrate the work of lawyers who volunteer their services for free to those who would not otherwise afford legal advice.

We have a long and proud tradition of engaging in community and pro bono work across the globe; giving back is not just a side note for us, it is one of our core values. We recognise we are fortunate to have opportunities and that we have a duty to share our talent and skills to help others find theirs. To celebrate the contribution of our staff and charity partners in furthering this goal and encouraging others to participate, this Pro Bono Week we are highlighting our pro bono initiatives in this Fragomen Gives Back blog series.

I highlighted in an earlier post our work with the UK Chagos Support Association and Henry Smith MP to provide drafting and legal advice in relation to a Private Members Bill that would address a defect in British Nationality law. Unless this defect is addressed, the children of second-generation Chagossians who have joined their parents in the UK could be under threat of deportation.

Since my original post in March 2018, there have been a few developments.

ICJ Ruling

In February 2019 the International Court of Justice has given its ruling on the UK's separation of the British Indian Ocean Territory from (what was then) Mauritius colony. The Mauritian government argued that its consent to the separation given in 1965 was tainted by coercion. The UK records referenced in the court proceedings confirm that, shamefully, the UK threatened to withhold or delay Mauritian independence should it not agree to the separation.

The United Kingdom's record of this conversation records Prime Minister Wilson having told Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam that:

in theory, there were several possibilities. The Premier and his colleagues could return to Mauritius either with Independence or without it. On the Defence point, Diego Garcia could either be detached by order in Council or with the agreement of the Premier and his colleagues. The best solution of all might be Independence and detachment by agreement, although he could not of course commit the Colonial Secretary at this point.

The UK had been determined to obtain consent (including by duress) because it was clear that the deliberate dismemberment of a colony in preparation for independence was...