Diego Garcia has beautiful beaches (Image: Getty)
Asylum seekers have been held on a tiny British tropical island that has no permanent population for the last three years.
More than 60 people have been detained in a refugee camp the size of a football pitch on the small island of Diego Garcia, in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).
The territory is made up of 58 islands more than 1,100 miles south of Sri Lanka. It is a disputed overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Mauritius.
The Tamil asylum seekers, including 16 children, were in a boat trying to reach Canada when they ran into difficulties and were escorted to Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands.
At just 12 miles squared, it was formed on November 8, 1965 and there is no permanent population, but Diego Garcia hosts a joint UK-US sensitive military facility.
Thousands of troops are understood to be stationed there, usually on a one-year deployment.
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The territory is administered from London, with a Commissioner appointed by the King, currently Paul Candler.
According to lawyers for the families, the camp is largely surrounded by a fence and is constantly guarded by the G4S officers. The claimants were told it was a criminal offence for them to leave the camp without having a reasonable excuse, so they felt they were under detention.
The commissioner maintains the claimants are not detained but, strategy added that “if they are detained, their detention is necessary.”
This is because the military base is considered a “highly sensitive military facility”.
Earlier this year the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) visited the asylum seekers and concluded it was not an appropriate place of residence for asylum seekers and refugees beyond initial emergency reception, adding that the current arrangements do not meet international standards.
The UNHRC said it amounted to indefinite and arbitrary detention with a failure to provide necessary standards of privacy, safety and dignity.
The asylum seekers on the boat they were rescued from (Image: BBC)
Several sexual abuse allegations have been reported allegedly by migrants upon other people in the camp.
In April some were graned limited bail to leave the camp.
A spokesperson for Matrix Chambers, representing them, said: “The claimants applied for bail on reasonable terms, by way of interim relief in their claim for unlawful detention.
“The Commissioner’s objection to bail was absolute; he maintained that no bail conditions would be sufficient to mitigate the national security risks associated with the claimants leaving the camp and entering what he described as a highly sensitive military facility.
“The claimants relied on evidence that large parts of Diego Garcia are not sensitive at all. For example, in recent months, the island was visited by a group of NFL Cheerleaders, who were there to ‘entertain the troops’.
“The Brit Club is a popular venue on Diego Garcia, which sells subsidised alcohol and hosts regular foam parties.”
On April 22 2024, Ms Margaret Obi, Acting Judge of the Supreme Court of the BIOT, ruled in favour of granting the Claimants bail. They are now permitted to leave the camp and access certain other parts of the island, including some of the beaches.
For many of the claimants, it was the first time they were able to leave their confines in over two and a half years.
In July the case returned to court and it was heard that a humanitarian crisis was unfolding with suicide and self-harm attempts by more than 20 of them, including some witnessed by children.
Commissioner Candler described the situation as “dangerous and unsustainable” and was of the view that there are also “significant further safeguarding risks in relation to the children” and “a significant risk of escalation, including hunger strikes and potential violence”.
He urged that they be moved.
Tom Short, solicitor at law firm Leigh Day which represents 28 of the individuals, said after the case: “We are relieved that the court has granted all our clients modest freedoms that will allow them to escape, if only temporarily for now, the utterly deplorable conditions in which they have long been detained.”
The refugee camp on Diego Garcia (Image: BBC)
Tessa Gregory, partner at Leigh Day, added: “The court heard that the camp is in complete crisis. Sadly, news of the mass suicide attempt and self-harm is not surprising to those who are aware of the conditions in the camp – after three years being detained in squalid conditions many of our clients have dire mental health problems and are suffering from overwhelming despair.
“This is a group of extremely vulnerable individuals who fled their country seeking only safety and freedom and must now be urgently relocated to the UK.”
However, in the three months since Labour took over, nothing has happened.
In response to a Parliamentary written question from Tory MP for Romford Andrew Rosindell last month, about how many people were still there, Stephen Doughty, Minister of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, said: “Sixty four migrants remain under the care of the BIOT Administration.
“The BIOT Administration is considering their claims for protection i.e. non-refoulement back to Sri Lanka.”