To:-

The Right Hon.Tony Blair MP
The Foreign Secretary, The Right Hon. Margaret Beckett MP


INHUMAN TREATMENT OF THE CHAGOS ISLANDERS (ILOIS)

We have become aware of the shocking treatment of the Chagos Islanders who were removed by the British Government to make way for a US airbase in Diego Garcia.

Their treatment is a shameful act of colonial bullying, racism, and inhuman and degrading treatment of people who are loyal British subjects. It is obvious that they have been living in conditions of neglect and suffering, severe hardship, high death rates, ill health, malnutrition and inadequate access to all public facilities which British citizens should have.

We are appalled that the British Government has broken all rules of international law in treating its own subjects so harshly. We are aware that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has been systematically broken year after year by the British Government in Chagos, and we fully endorse the recommendation of the UN Human Rights Subcommittee dated 6th December 2001, when the committee directed the United Kingdom to:-

“… make exercise of the Ilois’ right to return to their territory practicable. It should consider compensation for the denial of this right over an extended period. It should include the territory in its next periodic report”.

We are appalled that, instead of implementing this direction, the Government has chosen to continue the injustice, resorting to the use of Orders in Council to bypass the democratic process and overrule the High Court. We are even more appalled that the Government is using public funds to pursue a lengthy appeal against the High Court’s decision in May to quash these ridiculous orders.

We find it outrageous and offensive to these poor people that the Government is trying to hide behind a pathetic settlement payment in 1982, and feasibility studies which have been met with ridicule in the scientific community.

This outrageous appeal should be dropped immediately, and the committee’s damning judgment should be implemented immediately and in full. Anything less would be a shameful violation of all civilised norms of behaviour and will hasten the destruction of a peaceful rural community of islanders.



Sincerely,

Sign your name here! Click here to sign this petition and lend your voice to the campaign to let the Ilois people of Chagos go home.

I am afraid that the Bord Pleanala ruling of November marks the end of the road (pardon the bad pun) for the "Stop this Road!" campaign. This was our campaign to make the council abandon its planned road and bridge over and adjacent to the Railway Line Walk in Westport.

I wish to say I am proud of the support which we received and wish to compliment Westport Civic Trust for its hard work.

For more information on this campaign you can visit our website. Here is a link to the Bord's decision.

Here is the ruling of the Bord

"The Board decided not to direct the local authority to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. The Board considered that a road development that has commenced under the authority of Section 78 of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963 and in accordance with the procedures set out in Part X of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 1994 is entitled to be carried out in accordance with the terms of that procedure and that intervention by the Board to direct an EIS after a project has commenced is not provided for or contemplated in the legislation and would introduce a great degree of uncertainty, may be quite ineffectual, create major complications in respect of contracts and give rise to major diseconomies in the execution of the project. Accordingly, the Board decided to decline to formally assess any request to it to direct an EIS in respect of any project that has commenced pursuant to a Section 78/Part X procedure."

It is important to note that the Board did not rule that this road does not need an EIS. What they have said is that have declined to assess whether the road needs an EIS because it is already under construction. None the less it marks the end of the campaign.

I have been very proud to represent the objectors to this project in the council chamber, in the media and on the protest rallies. Thank you all for your support and hard work.