Downing Street's fight to strip a group of Chagossians of their hard-won right to live on their own islands has hit a fresh obstacle. The Court of Appeal has agreed to let Human Rights Watch step into the case — a ruling that gives a globally respected human rights organisation a formal say just as Labour prepares to argue for tearing up the islanders' court victory.
The Chagossians' legal team confirmed that the organisation will be allowed to lodge written submissions with the court ahead of the pivotal appeal, which opens on 15 July.
That intervention is set to sharpen scrutiny of ministers as they attempt to reverse earlier judgments — rulings that permitted a group of Chagossians, among them Interim First Minister of the Chagos Islands Government-in-Exile Misley Mandarin, to continue residing on islands across the archipelago.
The row sits inside a broader legal fight about who ultimately controls the Chagos Islands, and about whether Chagossians can go back and make their homes on the land of their forebears.
An independent voice enters the appeal
A frequent intervener wherever it judges that serious human rights questions are in play, Human Rights Watch ranks among the most prominent bodies of its kind anywhere. It will not be a party to the proceedings, yet its written arguments will be weighed by the Court of Appeal when the bench hears the matter later this month.
In practice, the judges will take in more than the two sides already before them: beyond the Government's case and that of the Chagossians' lawyers, they will now receive an independent submission from a leading international human rights organisation.
Campaigners standing with the Chagossians said the decision ought to be read by ministers as a warning.
Their argument is that disquiet over the Government's approach can no longer be dismissed as coming only from the islanders and their supporters — it is now drawing the attention of well-regarded international organisations.
Claire Bullivant, CEO of the Great British PAC — which has backed the legal action and the broader campaign to defend Chagossian rights and win the community a genuine say over its own homeland — said:
“It is extraordinary that a Labour Government led by people who have built their careers on human rights law now finds itself opposed not only by the Chagossian people but also by Human Rights Watch. The Court of Appeal's decision to allow intervention from one of the world's most respected human rights organisations should ring alarm bells in Downing Street.
“The Chagossians have spent generations fighting for the right to return home. Instead of helping them, the Government is spending taxpayers' money attempting to remove them from their homeland and overturn their legal victory.
“This should be a moment for ministers to pause and ask themselves whether they are really on the right side of history. We believe the Chagossian people deserve justice, deserve self-determination, and deserve the right to live on their homeland as British citizens. We will continue to support them every step of the way.”
What the July hearing will decide
Listed for 15 to 17 July, the appeal will decide whether the Government can unpick the earlier rulings that let the islanders stay put.
For a great many Chagossians, what is at stake reaches far beyond any point of legal procedure.
Their people were driven from the archipelago across the 1960s and 1970s to clear the way for the military base on Diego Garcia. Ever since, many have pressed for recognition of their rights — first and foremost the ability to return to homes that they and their relatives lost to that expulsion.
Supporters contend that Human Rights Watch stepping in underlines how much rests on the result: self-determination, human rights, and the fate of one of the most displaced indigenous peoples on earth.
Mounting pressure on Labour
Ministers maintain that they are merely exercising their right to appeal through the courts, but the arrival of Human Rights Watch looks certain to ratchet up the political heat on the Government in the days before the hearing.
Critics call the ruling a wake-up call for Labour, pointing to the irony that so many at the top of the Government — Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Attorney General Lord Hermer among them — made their names defending human rights and civil liberties.
The hearing promises to be the most closely watched episode yet in this long-running dispute, with everything now resting on the fate of the six islanders who currently make their home in the archipelago.
Whichever way the judges come down, Human Rights Watch's involvement guarantees that global human rights arguments will now weigh on the court's thinking when the case comes back before it this month.