Chagossians are still battling for British citizenship half a century after the UK violently expelled them from their island homes.
Between the late 1960s and 1973, residents of the Chagos Islands — an archipelago of roughly 60 islands in the Indian Ocean, over 6,000 miles from England – were forced to flee their homes to make way for a US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the atolls. Former residents and their descendants were initially deported to Mauritius and the Seychelles, but they are not allowed to return permanently.
The Chagossian diaspora now runs from Port Louis to Crawley as a result of this. Those born in the islands, as well as their descendants, campaign for their right of return and, in the short term, a secure life in the United Kingdom.
However, not all of the expellees’ children and grandchildren are eligible for British overseas territory citizenship, which will be a step forward , according to Home Office restrictions implemented in 2002. As a result, families are still experiencing the sorrow of separation.
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