- By Alice Cuddy and Swaminathan Natarajan
- BBC News
8 hours ago
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A picture provided by one of the migrants shows people on the deck of their fishing boat
Dozens of migrants have been stranded in a tiny British Indian Ocean territory for months after being rescued by their troubled fishing boat. Desperate to leave for a safe place, they describe the conditions as hell, but the island’s unusual legal status leaves them frightened and helpless.
All the migrants’ names have been changed
It was in the early morning hours of October 3, 2021 when a 50 foot (15 m) long fishing boat, the Marayan, was seen fighting near Diego Garcia Island. It immediately caught the attention of the island’s authorities – the area is home to a secret British-American military base, hundreds of kilometers from any other population, and unauthorized visitors are banned.
It quickly became clear that the 89 people on board – Sri Lankan Tamils who said they were fleeing persecution – had no intention of landing on the island. They had planned to seek asylum in Canada, a claim backed up by onboard maps, journal entries and GPS data, before inclement weather and engine problems threw them off course.
When the boat ran into trouble, a man on board said they had started searching for the nearest safe place. “We saw a little light and sailed towards Diego Garcia,” he told the BBC.
A Royal Navy vessel escorted the Marayan to land and the group was temporarily housed.
That was 20 months ago. And communications between officials on the island and in London offer clues as to why the migrants – some of whom have since attempted suicide due to their dire situation – are still there.
Communications immediately after their arrival – received as part of a freedom of information request to the Foreign Office and passed to the BBC by a lawyer representing some of the migrants – show officials wrestling over what to do with the “unprecedented development”.
Early news spoke of plans to “investigate repair options for the engine” but said “we cannot rule out” that the group will try to file asylum claims from Diego Garcia.
The next day, this scenario was reality.
The Tamils had submitted a letter to the commander of British forces on the island, saying they were fleeing persecution, had set sail from Tamil Nadu in India 18 days earlier and “expressed a desire to go to a safe country to be sent”. Many have since claimed links to the former Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka, who were defeated in the civil war that ended in 2009, and say they have faced persecution as a result. Some claim they have been victims of torture or sexual assault.
An official “information note” approved in London by Overseas Territory Director Paul Candler said the group’s “unexpected arrival” was the first time it had arrived in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) – the islands – Asylum has been applied for. Official name. It added that if the media were to turn to them, the official “line of defense” was that the UK government was “aware of the incident” and was “working urgently to resolve the situation”.
The group “currently has no means of communication with the outside world…” [but] “Over time, there is a high probability that the message will spread,” it said.
In the coming months, as the news went back and forth to London, more boats arrived on Diego Garcia. Lawyers estimate that the number at the camp eventually rose to at least 150 as more arrived from Sri Lanka.
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The Tamils who were housed on the Marayan wanted to travel to Canada and apply for asylum there
Meanwhile, asylum seekers were beginning to realize the reality of their current situation.
“At first I was happy and I thought, ‘I survived, I got food and I escaped torture,'” Lakshani, one of the migrants, told the BBC last month.
But she said the tropical island getaway soon became “a living hell”.
She says she was sexually assaulted in October last year by a man who was traveling on the same boat and staying in the same tent as her.
“I started screaming but no one came to help,” she said.
When she felt able to make an official complaint, she was told it was difficult to gather evidence because she had washed her clothes. She says she had to stay in the same tent as her alleged attacker for nearly a week before authorities finally responded to her request that he be relocated.
The UK Government and BIOT Administration did not respond to requests for comment on this allegation.
Lakshani and others told the BBC that they, or people they knew, had attempted suicide or injured themselves, including by swallowing sharp objects, in distress over the suffocating conditions.
Lawyers say they are aware of at least 12 attempted suicides and allegations of at least two sexual assaults inside the camp.
“We are exhausted mentally and physically… We lead lifeless lives. I feel like I’m living like a dead man,” said Vithusan, another migrant. He told the BBC he injured himself twice.
Another man, Aadhavan, said that after his initial application for protection was rejected, he “lost all hope” and decided to take his own life.
“I didn’t want to live like a caged animal here forever,” he said.
He told another migrant in the camp about his suicide attempt and she alerted the camp authorities, who arranged for medical treatment.
Another woman, Shanthi, said her husband also attempted suicide – while Lakshani said her own attempt at suicide was provoked by an official at the camp who had told her she would be sent back to Sri Lanka , where she was allegedly raped and tortured by soldiers in 2021.
The UK government and G4S – the private security company hired to guard the migrant camp – did not respond to requests for comment on this specific allegation.
G4S said its officials had treated migrants on the island with “dignity and respect” at all times, while a UK government spokesman said that “the welfare and safety” of migrants on BIOT “comes first” and that “all allegations of abuse was taken seriously and “would be fully investigated”.
The spokesman added that the BIOT administration is providing “extensive medical support.”
There have also been hunger strikes on the island, which lawyers say have also involved children.
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Another image sent by a migrant shows the tents, each shared by about a dozen people and guarded by security forces
In response to a query earlier this year, lawyers said the BIOT officer confiscated migrants’ phones, blocked access to the community phone and withheld medical treatment “unless people agreed to sign a form stating they exclude certain liabilities of the BIOT administration”.
The BIOT administration has denied this claim in court documents, saying that sharp objects were removed from the camp and other measures taken to prevent self-harm in response to a hunger strike.
Everyone agrees that the Diego Garcia military base was not a place to house asylum seekers.
Britain seized control of the Chagos Islands, which includes Diego Garcia, from its then colony of Mauritius in 1965, and subsequently expelled its population of more than 1,000 to make way for the base.
In recent decades, US planes have been dispatched from the base to bomb Afghanistan and Iraq — and it was also reportedly used as the CIA’s so-called “black site” — a facility where terrorist suspects are housed and interrogated.
Court documents filed in London say tents previously set up as Covid isolation facilities for military personnel are being used as a makeshift refugee camp. Fences surround the camp and inside there are basic medical facilities and a canteen. G4S guards must escort migrants as they leave the area.
“We are the parrots, we are in a cage,” Shanthi said of the lack of freedom.
Lawyers representing the migrants say basic education has been possible for about a year but has had to be held outdoors at times due to a rat infestation.
Some migrants have since returned home after either abandoning or rejecting their application. Others sailed to Réunion island in the Indian Ocean, French territory, in hopes of seeking asylum there, lawyers say.
At least 60 Tamils currently live on the island. They await decisions about their fate or challenges to previous judgments in complicated court cases thousands of miles away in the UK.
While the UK has signed international legislation on the treatment of refugees, court filings say this does not apply to BIOT, an area described as “constitutionally separate and separate from the UK”. A separate procedure was put in place, based on the idea that no one should be returned to a country where they are subjected to torture or inhumane treatment, to decide whether to be returned to Sri Lanka or a “safe third country”. should.
Lawyer Tessa Gregory says the London law firm Leigh Day, for which she works, launched a judicial review of Diego Garcia on behalf of a number of asylum seekers, questioning the “legitimacy” of the process – which she describes as “fundamentally unfair”.
Image source: Getty Images
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It is the first time anyone has tried to apply for asylum in Diego Garcia, where access is strictly controlled
She says decisions to return some migrants to Sri Lanka were made on the basis of rushed initial interviews, while subsequent more in-depth interviews were marred by translation errors. Others remained “in limbo” as the UK government has not yet identified a suitable safe third country, she said.
Meanwhile, the UK government said the BIOT government was examining “migrants’ protection claims under BIOT law and in line with international legal obligations”.
The UK office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told the BBC it was concerned about reports of Diego Garcia’s “deteriorating health” and had asked the UK authorities for access, but access had not yet been granted.
Emilie McDonnell, UK advocacy and communications coordinator at Human Rights Watch, said the UK government “should consider all options to ensure the welfare of these asylum seekers who are on British controlled territory and are therefore protected by the UK government.” should.” “.
According to lawyers, the UK has said it will not take in any of the asylum seekers from Diego Garcia whose applications have been approved.
Three of the Tamils who arrived on Diego Garcia are currently in Rwanda receiving medical treatment after being evacuated from the island after self-harm and attempted suicide. Her transfer is not part of the agreement between the British and Rwandan governments to send some UK asylum seekers to the East African country.
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At one point, five of the migrants were sent to Rwanda for medical treatment – two were later returned to Diego Garcia
In a letter sent to one of them in May and seen by the BBC, the BIOT administration said it would find and pay for private accommodation while they received treatment – including therapy – in Rwanda.
“If you are not happy with the proposal, we can arrange your return to Diego Garcia. There is currently no other option,” it said.
The application of four asylum seekers for transfer to a “safe third country” was approved. A letter sent to one of them two months ago and seen by the BBC said: “Every effort is being made to get this sorted out expeditiously.”
In a separate statement to the BBC this week, the UK government said it was “working tirelessly with the BIOT government to find a long-term solution”. [the migrants’] current situation.”
But the situation for everyone could be further delayed as there is no clear timeframe for finding a safe third country and lengthy court procedures exist for those challenging refusals.
After 20 months of waiting, one asylum seeker said everyone had “lost hope”.