Chagos Checkmate: How did a remote island group become a pawn in the great geopolitical chess game?

About this episode

The episode discusses the complex legal and geopolitical history of the Chagos Islands, focusing on the struggles of the Chagossians and the role of Diego Garcia as a military base.

There has been much commentary lately about the role of the Chagos Islands – and particularly Diego Garcia, where there is a US military base – as a pawn in the geopolitical chess game unfolding currently across the Middle East and beyond. But the legal position of the Chagos Islands is not simple: a French territory, as part of Mauritius, then a British territory, then an overseas dependency and finally, in the 1970s, the subject of a mass deportation of locals. It is a tortured history that has led to court cases over the right to return, the position of the islands' self-determination and the lease for strategically important airbase on Diego Garcia. The lawyer and writer Philippe Sands was counsel for the Mauritian government for many years, and he joins the podcast to discuss the long struggle of the Chagossians in the face of international headwinds. Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast. Hosted by: Charlie Falconer, Helena Kennedy, Nicholas Mostyn. Executive Producer and editor: Nick Hilton. Associate Producer: Ewan Cameron. Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Hosts: Charlie Falconer, Helena Kennedy, Nicholas Mostyn

Guest: Philippe Sands

Topics covered

• Chagos Islands
• geopolitics
• military bases
• self-determination
• legal history
• deportation
• international law

Keywords

• Chagos Islands
• Diego Garcia
• geopolitical chess game
• Philippe Sands
• self-determination
• mass deportation
• international law
• Mauritius
• military base
• court cases

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Mauritius, Law and Disorder

Places: Chagos Islands, Diego Garcia, Middle East

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