UK wants to relocate migrants detained on a remote island

Numerous stranded migrants who had been detained for years at a camp on a covert UK-US military island in the Indian Ocean have been offered a temporary transfer to Romania by the UK.

They might be transferred to the UK after six months. The BBC has discovered that financial incentives are being offered to other members of the group to relocate to Sri Lanka, where they claim to be persecuted.

After their boat encountered difficulties in 2021, hundreds of Tamils were the first individuals to ever request asylum on Diego Garcia.

Due to the territory's unique status, there was a protracted legal struggle. The UK government claimed that admitting the people would open up a "backdoor migration route."
Ministers have been searching for a solution that safeguards both "the integrity of British territorial borders" and the well-being of migrants, according to a Foreign Office spokesman.

The representative claimed that relocating the most vulnerable migrants would provide them with "greater safety and wellbeing" while their legal claims are being handled.

British officials on the island made the offer to the refugees on Tuesday, following the UK's announcement that it was giving Mauritius control over the British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot), which includes Diego Garcia. But the military installation will stay on the island.

When the BBC attended a court hearing last month to discuss whether the group had been wrongfully held in a small, gated camp under private protection, they were granted access to Diego Garcia that had never before been granted company G4S.
Soon, a decision in the matter is anticipated.

Despite being run out of the Foreign Office in London, the British government has maintained that Biot is "constitutionally distinct" from the UK and hence not subject to the refugee convention.

The UN claims that international protection is similar to refugee status, and the Biot government instead instituted a distinct procedure to decide whether the Tamils may be sent back to Sri Lanka or get it.

As of the now, 56 Tamils remain on Diego Garcia. Eight more people were sent to Rwanda for medical attention following attempts at suicide or self-harm.

The majority of migrants are either waiting on the outcome of their appeals of denials of international protection claims. In total, eight have been accorded international protection.
Over the summer, after widespread incidences of self-harm, the top officer overseeing the territory, Paul Candler, asked that the government bring all the refugees to the UK due to what he called a "dangerous and unsustainable situation" at the camp.

A month later, Mr. Candler announced his resignation, citing in a letter to the BBC that he was finding the "personal leadership demands that this has placed on me increasingly challenging" and the "migrants situation increasingly difficult."

Biot's interim commissioner, Nishi Dholakia, addressed the migrants in the camp on Tuesday morning. He stated that the UK government had taken into account the Biot administration's previous request, but had chosen to "make different offers to different individuals".
There will be offers for some to relocate to a safer nation and for others to return voluntarily," he stated.

"I want to tell you that no one will be leaving the island right away as a result of this announcement. Everyone has time to think over the offer and what to do next."

Some of the migrants' attorneys, from the UK companies Leigh Day and Duncan Lewis, stated that the UK government needed to "find a viable long term solution for all of the individuals and families" and that it was "imperative the camp be closed down without delay".
Families in the camp with children and migrants whose requests for international protection have been granted will be given the opportunity to relocate for a maximum of six months to a "safe centre" managed by the UN in Romania, according to migrants who spoke to the BBC. This will happen while the UK government continues to look for a "durable solution."

"The UK will keep working on creating a long-lasting solution for you that complies with international standards within those six months. At this point, you have the option to accept any answer that is offered to you. The BBC saw correspondence from the Biot government that stated, "If you do not wish to accept any offers made during those six months, you will be brought to the UK."

Financial incentives have been extended to individuals who are not members of family units in the camp and whose protection requests have been denied in order for them to leave and return to Sri Lanka. The BBC obtained a letter addressed to migrants that states that they will receive £3,000, three years of medical insurance, up to three years of housing, and options for employment, training, and education.

The BBC is aware that some people have not yet pursued every available legal option in order to get their protection requests denied. This week, attorneys for the migrants are scheduled to travel to Diego Garcia to meet with their clients.

"I had nothing to eat in the morning. "I'm really depressed," a Tamil patient receiving treatment in Rwanda expressed her feelings and is now being given the chance to go back to Sri Lanka.

The first Tamil settlers on Diego Garcia in October 2021 claimed to have been escaping persecution and were attempting to reach Canada to apply for asylum when their boat broke down and the Royal Navy had to save them. GPS data on board, together with journal entries and maps, supported their claim.

More boats arrived in the months that followed.

Men and women gathered outside their tents waving and lined up against the six-foot fence when the BBC visited the camp last month.

The camp consists of white humanitarian tents that have been converted into temporary community spaces including a chapel, and beige military tents with domes that are utilized as sleeping quarters.

Five or six men were sleeping in one of the tents when one of the men raised a panel over his bed to reveal a rat nest.

"A leak, see this. Another gestured urgently around his tent, where sheets and towels were draped to create separate rooms, and screamed, "A rat hole."

The green military cots that the Tamils are sleeping on are covered with flattened cardboard boxes and wooden pallets an attempt to increase their level of comfort
Slogans like "This is a bad place" and "We are treated like animals in a cage" are scrawled on handwritten placards that are displayed throughout the camp.

Some displayed their attempts to make their living conditions better, such as a plant bed coated with coconut husks and a dining table constructed of pallets.

Families and single males now live in separate sections of the camp, separated by an interior fence that was recently built.

The circumstances in the camp towards the end of last year were referred to as a "emerging mental health pandemic" by an independent social worker that one of the migrant attorneys had hired.

Men, women, and kids showed me indications of self-harm outside the courtroom.

One woman, out of multiple allegations of sexual assault, sobbed during the court visit to the camp, saying her daughter had been raped by another migrant within the tent.

Three individuals are being kept in a room near to the island's police station. Each man has been charged with or found guilty of crimes committed within the camp.
Representatives from the Red Cross and the United Nations have previously expressed concerns about the camp's conditions and utilization.

The UN declared the camp "manifestly not appropriate" for people to live in permanently after visiting it late last year. The UN expressed special worry over reports of other refugees harassing and sexually assaulting youngsters.

Normally, the chapel where the court hearing was held is used as a school. Educational posters were plastered on the walls alongside children's paintings, one of which featured a military tent with palm trees in the background.

Accommodations for civilian contractors are just a short distance from the site. Troops and contractors have access to stores, pubs, restaurants, and recreational spaces like a movie theatre and bowling alley.

The Situated hundreds of miles from any other population, the Indian Ocean area is considered a vital strategic location for the United States.

The island is very difficult to get there and has long been a source of mystery and myth. The UK government has confirmed that two US rendition aircraft landed there in 2002 but insists the captives did not escape the planes.

A ruling in favour of the BBC was made by the Biot Supreme Court earlier this year, stating that "justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done" notwithstanding the opposition of UK government attorneys over the BBC's entry to the island for the hearing.

Later, the US, which is in charge of the majority of the staff and resources on Diego Garcia, declared that it would deny access to the BBC and the attorneys for the migrants. Additionally, it threatened to deny lodging, food, and transportation to everyone in attendance at the hearing—including the British judge.

Later, the US and British authorities approved the hearing, albeit with conditions. More G4S officers were sent over to protect the attorneys and the BBC and make sure that access to the island was
limited.

The stranded Tamils may have to travel 4,600 miles (7,500 km) to Romania and spend further time in limbo, or they may have to take a shorter route to Sri Lanka, if they accept Tuesday's offer.

One 12-year-old girl, standing outside the courthouse with her parents last month, said she had dreamed of being a pilot so she could fly away ever since she saw a military aircraft fly over the camp.


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