UK should straighten out its colonial past

The United Kingdom and Mauritius have begun talks on the sovereignty of the disputed Chagos Archipelago, Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced on Sunday in a New Year address, describing the latest developments on the Chagos issue as being “very encouraging”.

The archipelago in the Indian Ocean was historically part of Mauritius’ territory but has been occupied by the UK since 1814. After Mauritius gained independence from the UK in 1968 following more than 150 years of colonization, it has long fought for the return of the archipelago to its territory. But the UK, which has a joint military base with the United States on Diego Garcia — the largest of the 60 small islands of the Chagos Archipelago — has rejected Mauritius’ rightful demand and continued to occupy the territory despite international support for the African country’s sovereignty claim.

A 2019 International Court of Justice ruling backed the claim by Mauritius and said the UK should give up its “unlawful” administration of the islands. The decision by the United Nations’ highest court was followed by a UN General Assembly resolution in May 2019 that stressed, “The Chagos Archipelago forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius”, calling on the UK to withdraw from it within six months.

Yet it was not until November 2022 that UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced that the UK and Mauritius had agreed to launch “constructive negotiations” on the disputed territory, on the premise that the joint UK-US military base will continue to operate regardless of the outcome of negotiations. The long-delayed settlement of the historical issue attests to denied justice that the UK owes to its former colony.

One of the most aggressive countries in human history, the UK has invaded almost 90 percent of the UN recognized countries in the world, according to All the Countries We’ve Ever Invaded: And the Few We Never Got Round To by Stuart Laycock, which views the British empire’s incursion record as a whole.

Yet rather than straighten out its colonial past, the UK continues to drag its feet on settling many of the territorial disputes left over from history through negotiations. Apart from Chagos, for example, the UK still occupies the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands and refuses to conduct talks over its sovereignty with Argentina that also claims them. This despite the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf issuing a ruling in 2016 that confirms the extension of Argentina’s maritime territory to include the archipelago, and the Organization of American States in 2012 stating well-established and unconditional support for a peaceful resolution to the demand by Argentina for sovereignty over the islands.

It would be in the interest of the UK to set straight its colonial past at an early date and abide by the spirit and resolutions of the UN Charter to resolve all territorial disputes with other countries.