Lawyers accuse UK govt of letting Tamil refugees leave in boats without safety procedure in Indian Ocean

A group of lawyers have accused the UK government of coercing the Sri Lankan-Tamil refugees to leave the British-controlled Diego Garcia territory in the Indian Ocean.

A UK law firm, Leigh Day, which represents 81 refugees, said that the government broke international laws and the UK Children Act by allowing them to leave the Indian Ocean island by not ensuring that their boats, which also carried children, are seaworthy and safe.

A group of 89 Sri Lankans, including 20 children, landed in Diego Garcia after their boat was intercepted by the British military while apparently headed to Canada from India last October.

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According to lawyers, they were kept in a tented compound devoid of basic facilities which forced them to leave Diego Garcia—part of the Chagos Islands, which a UN court has ruled were unlawfully detached from Mauritius by the UK when it granted Mauritius independence in 1968.

The UK calls the island British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and continues to claim sovereignty

In the legal letters to the government, they said that due to the appalling conditions, they were forced to leave the island.

While one boat carrying 46 people ended up on the French territory of Réunionafter three weeks at sea, another carrying 35 people, including an 18-month-old child, was escorted back to Diego Garcia due to a failed engine.

But it was later allowed to leave again on Sunday without checking adequate life safety equipment, they said in the letter, reports the Guardian.

“If the UK and BIOT authorities facilitated the departure of vessels on to the open sea without tracking systems and adequate life safety equipment, that is an appalling dereliction of duty that risks life and limb of the adults and children aboard,” Tessa Gregory, a Leigh Day partner, was quoted as saying.

“We are extremely concerned that the boat which left last Sunday may again founder, and have asked the UK and BIOT authorities to confirm what measures are in place to ensure that the vessel is monitored so that immediate rescue can be carried out if required, but to date have had no response.”

Responding to the allegation, a government spokesperson told Guardian, “We have been working tirelessly to find a long-term solution for the migrants on Diego Garcia. At all times their welfare and safety have been our top priority.

“The migrants on BIOT are not detained and are free to leave at any time. Those who have departed so far have done so voluntarily and independently. The BIOT administration facilitated sea trials to ensure that vessels were seaworthy.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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