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The UK government has proposed offering around 60 Sri Lankan Tamils stranded on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia the right to come to the UK. Many have spent more than three years in a makeshift camp on the island, which hosts a secretive UK-US military base, after becoming the first people ever to file asylum claims there. The group includes 16 children and most are awaiting final decisions on claims for international protection or appealing against rejections.
Following a “change of policy”, the government proposes that “all families, children and those of the unaccompanied males who do not have criminal convictions, outstanding charges or investigations would be offered the opportunity to be transferred directly to the UK”. Work on the offer is ongoing and details will be provided soon. Lawyers representing the Tamils welcomed the announcement.
The UK had previously offered some of the group a temporary move to Romania with the possibility of coming subsequently to the UK, while others were offered financial incentives to return to Sri Lanka. The latest development follows the UK’s announcement last month that sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot), which includes Diego Garcia, is to be handed to Mauritius. The military base, however, will remain on the island.
The migrants have been in inhumane conditions, surviving mistakenly on hunger strikes, and numerous self-harm and suicide attempts. Part of the Tamils seeking asylum will go to Montserrat to serve their sentences. Courts are determining if they have been illegally detained on Diego Garcia for all these years
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