News
Lankan Tamils stranded on ‘secretive’ British island in Indian Ocean
Sixty Lankan Tamil refugees, including at least 16 children, claim to have been ‘unlawfully detained’ on Diego Garcia since 2021, said a report published by The Week of the UK yesterday.
It said: A paradise island in the Indian Ocean has become the centre of a complex legal dispute, a battle for control – and a “prison” for stranded migrants.
In 2021, Sri Lankan Tamils fleeing persecution attempted to sail to Canada to claim asylum, when their fishing boat suffered a leak. British Navy ships rescued dozens and brought them to Diego Garcia, the largest of the disputed Chagos Islands in the British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot) – long claimed by Mauritius – and site of a secretive military base leased by the UK to the US. The group of 60, including at least 16 children, claim to have been “unlawfully detained” since: the first people to file asylum claims in the Biot.
The territory’s Supreme Court was due to rule on the claim last week, but hours before the judge and lawyers got on the US military plane to start their journey, the US cancelled the hearing. Officials said they were “withdrawing its consent” for access to the “heavily restricted” island, with communication seen by the BBC describing the reasons as “confidential” – but that the visit presented “risks to the security and effective operation” of the base.
But parts of the island where access was denied (such as a gym and a swimming pool) were visited by US cheerleaders and celebrity chefs earlier this year. The fact that the Biot Supreme Court has been “prevented from sitting in its own territory on Crown land is an extraordinary affront to the rule of law”, said Tessa Gregory, a partner at Leigh Day, the London-based solicitors representing the Tamils.
Diego Garcia is the largest of the Chagos Islands, an archipelago about 310 miles south of The Maldives. The Biot is constitutionally separate from the UK, but administered from London.
The UK took the Chagos Islands from its then colony Mauritius in 1965 and evicted the population of more than 1,000 people, to build a military base. It signed an agreement in 1966 to lease the base to the US for 50 years, which has been extended and is now set to expire in 2036. So although Diego Garcia is technically in a British territory, most of the island is under US military control, including the accommodation and transport.
The US has sent planes from Diego Garcia to bomb Afghanistan and Iraq, while two B52 bombers were sent there for training earlier this year. The CIA has also denied allegations that it has been used as a base to interrogate terror suspects after 9/11.
Since Mauritius gained its independence in 1968, it has claimed ownership of the islands. In 2000, the British High Court ruled that the forceful eviction of Chagossians had been illegal, and granted them right of return – to any island except Diego Garcia.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 2019 that the UK’s control of the whole territory was “unlawful” and should end. In 2021, a separate UN maritime court found that the UK’s control of the islands amounted to an “unlawful occupation”.
But “regardless of widespread international opinion in favour of Mauritius, London has largely ignored these decisions”, said Foreign Policy. The UK government also argues that the refugee convention does not apply there.
Foreign Office plans to give the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius in a “Cyprus-style deal” were scrapped earlier this year, said The Telegraph. Then Defence Secretary Grant Shapps “urged” David Cameron not to cede the islands to Mauritius – a growing ally of China.
“In many ways, the island – with its pure white sands, palm trees and azure seas – looks a lot like paradise”, said The Guardian. But for the 60 asylum seekers, “that idyll could not be further from their reality” – they remain “stuck there” in a “desperate, dangerous limbo”.
They are forced to live in a “makeshift tented camp the size of a football pitch, surrounded by a 7ft-high metal fence”. The tents are “infested with rats, mice and cockroaches”. One person told the paper: “My mental state is deteriorating. I live in a body that has no life inside it”.
Many of the detainees “say they are escaping torture and persecution by either Sri Lankan security forces” due to their Tamil ethnicity, said The New Humanitarian, or Indian security forces due to being Sri Lankan refugees.
But on Diego Garcia, guarded by private security company G4S, “they are treating us like prisoners”, two asylum seekers said in an anonymous written statement. A G4S spokesperson denied the claims, saying the company “treats the migrants on the island with dignity and respect at all times”.
But there have been “multiple suicide attempts” and “reports of sexual harassment and assaults”, said the BBC. Some have been flown to Rwanda for medical treatment, but remain under Biot administration. “During Tuesday’s virtual hearing, one of the migrants on the island collapsed multiple times.”
Last year, UN representatives who visited the camp reported that “conditions there amounted to arbitrary detention”. The Foreign Office has also said that the island is not suitable for migrants. A ruling in their favour could allow them to claim compensation for years of detention, as well as having implications for Chagossians’ calls for reparations for their eviction.
The asylum seekers are “pinning all their hopes on their legal teams to get them off the island and to a place of safety where their troubled children can thrive”, said The Guardian. One told the paper: “We hope we will be allowed to escape from hell.”
At least 26 people, including five prison officers and 20 inmates, have been confirmed dead following violent unrest at Negombo Prison, hospital sources said yesterday, as authorities struggled to restore full control over the facility.
According to unconfirmed reports the prison officers were killed by rioters yesterday morning, in retaliation, and weapons carried by those officers were grabbed by them.
Negombo General Hospital Director Consultant Dr. Pushpa Gamlath said nearly 100 injured persons had been admitted, following the clashes, and eight of the critically wounded had been transferred to the National Hospital, in Colombo, for further treatment.
The violence, which initially broke out on Sunday (5) between remand prisoners and convicted inmates, left two inmates dead and 38 others injured before being temporarily brought under control.
However, tensions flared again on Monday (6), with prison officials reporting renewed unrest inside the facility despite earlier assurances that the situation had stabilised.
Police said the initial confrontation was triggered by a dispute linked to the exposure of an alleged drug trafficking network, operating within the prison, and was reportedly orchestrated by a drug trafficker, identified as Suresh, who is said to have links to an underworld figure known as ‘Booru Moona’.
The violence rapidly escalated, with female inmates staging a protest on the Prison roof in support of those involved in the clashes, while relatives gathered outside demanding information on detainees. Police later facilitated visits for selected family members to hospitalised inmates.
The Negombo Prison, which houses around 1,800 remand and convicted inmates, descended into widespread disorder as rival groups clashed, with reports indicating that the violence later spread beyond the initial confrontation.
Authorities said rioting inmates had allegedly seized firearms during the renewed unrest on Monday, prompting heightened security measures.
The Sri Lanka Air Force deployed drones for aerial surveillance and a Bell 412 helicopter to monitor the situation, while additional military personnel were sent to reinforce security around the prison.
Prisons Department spokesperson A.C. Gajanayake said a special investigation team had been appointed, under the direction of the Commissioner General of Prisons, to probe the incident, while a separate police investigation is also underway.
Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told The Island that he had called for a detailed report on the disturbances.
By Norman Palihawadane
News
Cleaner, cheaper electricity gathers momentum with rapid progress in 50 MW Mannar wind power project
Sri Lanka’s drive towards cleaner and cheaper electricity gathered fresh momentum with the reported rapid progress in the 50 MW Mannar Wind Power Project, which is expected to produce the lowest-cost wind-generated electricity in the country’s history while saving billions of rupees in annual fuel imports.
The Ministry of Energy announced that the first wind turbine for the project had already arrived in the country, while the remaining turbine components have reached the Port of Trincomalee and are currently being unloaded, signalling a major milestone in the construction of one of the country’s key renewable energy ventures.
The project, inaugurated by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in January this year, is expected to become a cornerstone of the government’s strategy to transform Sri Lanka’s electricity sector by expanding renewable energy generation and reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels.
According to the Ministry, electricity generated by the Mannar wind farm will be purchased at USD 0.0465 (approximately Rs. 14.37) per unit, making it the lowest tariff ever secured for wind-generated electricity in Sri Lanka.
Energy experts say the competitive tariff demonstrates the growing economic viability of renewable energy and could help stabilise future electricity prices.
The Ministry also estimates that once the wind farm is connected to the national grid, Sri Lanka will save approximately Rs. 4.7 billion annually by reducing the import of fossil fuels required for thermal power generation, easing pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
The Mannar project is expected to support the government’s ambition of substantially increasing the contribution of renewable energy to the national electricity mix, by 2030, while helping Sri Lanka move towards its long-term goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Hayleys Fentons PLC, selected through an international competitive bidding process, is responsible for the installation and maintenance of the wind turbines.
The National System Operator (NSO), operating under the Ministry of Energy, will oversee the integration and management of electricity generated by the project within the national grid.
By Ifham Nizam
Human trafficking has become increasingly sophisticated, with deceptive overseas employment offers, fraudulent recruitment practices and technology-enabled recruitment emerging as major threats that require a coordinated national response, Members of Parliament were told at a special awareness programme held in the House recently.
Addressing the programme, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Chairman of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, retired Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha, said trafficking in persons had evolved significantly over the years and was now closely linked to organised transnational criminal networks.
He warned that fake foreign employment opportunities, fraudulent recruitment agencies, online recruitment platforms, forced labour, sexual exploitation and, in some instances, the use of victims for forced criminal activities had become key challenges confronting authorities.
The awareness programme organised jointly by the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force of the Ministry of Defence and Parliament, was aimed at strengthening legislators’ understanding of emerging trafficking trends, the legal and policy framework governing the issue, and the role of Parliament in strengthening anti-trafficking legislation.
MPs were also briefed on the National Strategic Action Plan on Combating Human Trafficking (2026-2030), which focuses on preventing trafficking, identifying and protecting victims, strengthening the criminal justice response and improving coordination among State institutions.
Special emphasis was placed on the growing use of digital platforms for recruitment, deceptive migration practices, labour exploitation and the coercion of victims into criminal activities.
The programme featured presentations by Additional Solicitor General Haripriya Jayasundara, PC, and State Counsel Sajith Bandara of the Attorney General’s Department.
The event, held under the patronage of Deputy Chairperson of Committees Hemali Weerasekara, was attended by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala, Deputy Defence Minister retired Major General Aruna Jayasekara, Members of Parliament and senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force and Parliament.
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