>The UK retained possession of the Chagos archipelago after Mauritius gained independence in 1968, effectively paying Mauritius more than £4m for the islands.
Is the idea here that this deal was unfair?
UK suffers defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands
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Re: UK suffers defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands
#12Time to give up on the UN. More and more irrelevant every day.
Really? That’s what you take away from this? Never asked yourself what hell European countries still doing in places like this? Unfortunately it’s not actionable but the message is clear.
To be clear there are places European countries have a presence and this issue doesn't come up like this so just "still doing in places like this" seems a bit of a simplification.
Re: UK suffers defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands
#13Time to give up on the UN. More and more irrelevant every day.
What would be the alternative to the UN ?
Re: UK suffers defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands
#14Réunion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Réunion is much closer to Mauritius and claimed by France, I wonder if that's why France abstained on the vote?
Re: UK suffers defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands
#15This is a British source that describes why the Chagos islands are so contentious: https://politicsfirst.co.uk/editorials/britains-shame-the-et...
That article is misleading, calling it ethnic cleansing of "indigenous peoples". These islands were uninhabited prior to European contact.
Re: UK suffers defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands
#16>The UK retained possession of the Chagos archipelago after Mauritius gained independence in 1968, effectively paying Mauritius more than £4m for the islands. Is the idea here that this deal was unfair?
As I understand, there were 2 main issues (1) sovereignty over the Chagos islands (2) the int'l human rights issue because of the forced exile of the natives.
The natives are not allowed to return to the archipelago because of the US military base in Diego Garcia,
Mauritius argued that it leased the land to the UK and the UK sub-leased it to the US. On the other hand, UK said the archipelago is a British territory and it has sovereignty over the islands.
can £4m compensate for the human rights violations on that scale ?
Re: UK suffers defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands
#17This is a British source that describes why the Chagos islands are so contentious: https://politicsfirst.co.uk/editorials/britains-shame-the-et...
That article is misleading, calling it ethnic cleansing of "indigenous peoples". These islands were uninhabited prior to European contact. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Garcia
Not true at all. Diego Garcia is just one island among these Archipelago and it was always inhabited by the native creole-speaking "Chagossians".
UK evicted them forcefully in the 70's or 80's I think.
Re: UK suffers defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
That article is misleading, calling it ethnic cleansing of "indigenous peoples". These islands were uninhabited prior to European contact. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Garcia
Not true at all. Diego Garcia is just one island among these Archipelago and it was always inhabited by the native creole-speaking "Chagossians". UK evicted them forcefully in the 70's or 80's I think.
The way I understand what I've found is, the islands were not inhabited before the Europeans arrived there, and "Chagossians" weren't native. They were brought in as slave workers after the settlement. (Then, the population expanded with voluntary migration)
Re: UK suffers defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really? That’s what you take away from this? Never asked yourself what hell European countries still doing in places like this? Unfortunately it’s not actionable but the message is clear.
They discovered and conquered these places a long time ago. Those places basically belong to them. That’s how it works.
"discovered"
How do you discover a place that people already are or know about?
I'll give you a hint...you don't. You show up their, subjugate the locals, and claim your history as the history of civilization itself.
Re: UK suffers defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands
#20This is a British source that describes why the Chagos islands are so contentious: https://politicsfirst.co.uk/editorials/britains-shame-the-et...
That article is misleading, calling it ethnic cleansing of "indigenous peoples". These islands were uninhabited prior to European contact. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Garcia
Given that Madagascar was seemingly settled by Polynesians, I'd be amazed if Europeans and their slaves were actually the first ever inhabitants of Chagos, but that aside, if they were, then the Chagossian descendents of those first slaves would be, by definition, the indigenous people of the Chagos Islands.
Edit - and will people stop buying .io domains. They might look cool but it is straight up theft.
https://www.thewebmaster.com/hosting/2016/feb/27/io-tld-top-...
https://gigaom.com/2014/06/30/the-dark-side-of-io-how-the-u-...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/government-ac...