Member

It is hard to conceive of a treaty less in the interests of the United States than the Mauritius treaty. It would be much better served if we were to afford the Chagossians self-determination, with the options of becoming part of Mauritius or what they say they want to be, a British overseas territory. That would be a win-win all round. The Chagos Islands, as has already been mentioned, could be resettled for less than the leasing bill to Mauritius for one island. In so doing, we would be taking the step that we should be taking to try to right the appalling wrongs of 1968 to 1973, which the Government continue to say were appalling. As the direct result of self-determination, the arrangement would bring legal certainty, just as did the separation of the Ellice Islands from the Gilbert Islands. Moreover, legal certainty would be provided in a context where all the islands, as a self-determined British overseas territory, would remain under British sovereignty, avoiding the power vacuum instability that is already being created by this Bill and the Mauritius treaty, with all that that means for international peace and stability.