After more than half a century of exile, the Chagossian people have won a landmark ruling that restores their right to live in the islands of their birth. The Supreme Court of the British Indian Ocean Territory, sitting under Chief Justice The Honourable James Lewis KC, has handed down a historic judgment in the Chagos case and found firmly in the claimants' favour.
Hearing the judicial review brought on 13 March 2026, the Court granted the claim, ruled that the long-standing removal of the Chagossians' right of abode is unlawful, and ordered that it be quashed. It is a seismic moment in a struggle for justice that has run for decades.
For over twenty years, one government after another leaned on a 2004 Order in Council, brought in under the Blair government, to bar Chagossians from their homeland. That legal foundation has now been fundamentally dismantled.
The challenge took aim at two government failures at once: its refusal to grant permits, and its move to serve removal notices on Chagossians presently on the islands, done without fair process or any proper weighing of their circumstances. The Court went further still, confronting the very legal machinery used to shut an entire people out of their home.
A discretion the government refused to use
At the heart of the case lay a simple yet powerful point. Ministers hold a wide discretion to grant permits for presence in the territory, but they never exercised it lawfully. In reality the government behaved as though no permit could ever be issued, leaving the claimants with no genuine route to regularise their presence.
Serious procedural unfairness was also found. Removal notices went out with no prior engagement, no chance for the claimants to make representations, and no adequate reasons, breaches that strike at the most basic principles of public law.
Decisively, the Court has now confirmed that, in the present circumstances, the exclusion of the right of abode cannot lawfully stand at all. That single finding transforms the legal landscape.
Removal now exceptionally hard to justify
With the right of abode restored, the government's power to remove Chagossians from the islands is now sharply curtailed. Any attempt to do so in future will demand a lawful process, proper justification, and compelling reasons able to survive judicial scrutiny. In practice, removal becomes exceptionally difficult to justify.
The legal team, led by Philip Rule KC with the support of James Tumbridge, built its case on bedrock public law principles: fairness, the proper exercise of discretion, and the historic context of the Chagossian people's displacement. That legal case has been supported by donations from the Great British PAC.
Misley Mandarin, Interim First Minister of the Chagossian people, said:
“Today justice has finally begun to catch up with history. For generations we have lived with exile, with loss, and with the denial of our most basic rights. This judgment restores not just a legal principle, but our dignity as a people.
We have returned peacefully to our homeland. We ask only to live, to remember, and to belong. Today the law has recognised what we have always known, that our connection to these islands cannot be erased.”
Barrister James Tumbridge said:
“This judgment shows justice works when people are given the chance to be heard. The decision to forcibly remove British subjects from British land, for the Crown to take away the right of abode, should never have been allowed. Today we can start to right that wrong.”
Claire Bullivant, CEO of the Great British PAC, said:
“This is a historic victory. For decades, Chagossians have been denied the most basic right, the right to live in their own homeland. Today's judgment confirms that the legal basis for that exclusion cannot stand.
It is hard to overstate the importance of this moment. The government's entire approach to Chagos, built over more than twenty years, has been fundamentally called into question.”
A turning point, despite the threat of appeal
The government has already signalled that it intends to appeal the decision. Even so, today's judgment marks a genuine turning point. The Court cannot itself order a settlement to be built, but it has reshaped the legal framework so thoroughly that keeping Chagossians out, or removing them from their homeland, becomes extraordinarily difficult to sustain.
After decades of struggle, the Chagossian people now stand closer than ever to claiming their rightful place in their homeland.