“We have gained recognition of our sovereignty... which completes the process of decolonisation which began in 1968.”
A colonial process left unfinished for generations can finally be declared complete.
— Navin Ramgoolam, British Indian Ocean Territory
Source: Navin Ramgoolam, Prime Minister of Mauritius, statement on the signing of the UK-Mauritius Chagos Archipelago treaty, 22 May 2025
More Proverbs from British Indian Ocean Territory
The UK decided to lease our motherland to the US to build a military base.
A homeland can be signed away by distant powers without the consent of the people who belong to it.
Since I was four years old, my people, the Chagossians, have lived in impoverished exile, while the US military has been enjoying the fruits of my homeland.
A single act of dispossession can echo across an entire lifetime and an entire people.
My life has been buried… It's as if I was pulled from my paradise to put me in hell.
Losing one's home can feel like losing life itself, even while the body goes on living.
I maintain justice must be done.
However long a wrong is allowed to stand, the demand for justice does not fade.
This battle has just begun.
A single legal or moral victory is only a step, not the end, of a long struggle.
We Chagossians will continue fighting for our fundamental rights to be respected.
Dignity is defended by continuing to demand it, generation after generation.