– In 2017 the UN General Assembly voted by a large majority(94-15) to refer the request for an advisory opinion on Diego Garcia to the International Court if Justice.
– In September 2018, 13 of the 14 judges of the ICJ concluded that the Chagos Islands, including Diego Garcia were illegally separated from Mauritius.
– In May 2019 the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly(116-6) to endorse the Court’s opinion that the Chagos Islands, including Diego Garcia, belonged to Mauritius. Apart from the US and the UK only four countries AUSTRALIA, Hungary, Israel and the Maldives voted in favour of the British neo-colonial claim.
– In November 2019, Britain refused to abide by the ICJ opinion and for the US to leave Chagos/Diego Garcia.
– In 2020 the UN published a map showing Chagos/Diego Garcia as part of Mauritius.
Despite all this, the US sits tight on its key military base of Diego Garcia which is thousands of kilometres from its mainland. In contrast, China’s building of islands in the South China Sea is adjacent to its own territory.