Asylum seekers on Diego Garcia granted further limited freedoms by the High Court

Earlier this year 11 people were granted bail which gave them access to a road on the island and a beach during specified times of the day. In a judgment handed down today the judge extended this bail to a further 36 people on the island and extended the conditions for all to also include access to a 1.5km nature trail which is close to the camp where they have been detained for the last three years. The judge declined to extend bail to also include access to a social club and to a particular beach on the south of the island as both would have required transport to be provided to the claimants.

The court also heard today that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the camp at Thunder Cove. In the last 24 hours there has been suicide and self-harm attempts by more than 20 individuals. Children have witnessed distressing scenes including suicide attempts, and some of those children have themselves been taken ill as a result.

The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Commissioner, Paul Candler, has himself now described the situation in the camp to UK government ministers as “dangerous and unsustainable”. The Commissioner is now of the view that there are also “significant further safeguarding risks in relation to the children” and “a significant risk of escalation, including hunger strikes and potential violence”. The Commissioner has put his view to Ministers that “the children and families need as an absolute priority to be moved from the Territory” and he also recommended to the UK government that all individuals be urgently removed from the British overseas territory.

A witness statement referred to in Court detailed that the situation has been made worse by the absence of interpreters, social workers and teachers in the camp, and a shortage of medics, over recent days. It is understood some had refused to work after Crown Agents, the company contracted by the FCDO to provide services, failed to pay them. Crown Agents is reported to be entering into administration.

The judge commented that the “situation appears to be deteriorating rapidly”. The Court’s judgment today is expected to provide some relief to the those granted bail, many of whom, including children, have not been permitted by the Commissioner to leave the guarded detention camp in over 1000 days.

The individuals, including 16 children, have been detained in a 100m x 140m compound since they arrived on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the BIOT, in October 2021 having been rescued from sea after their boat fell into distress. They are seeking international protection.

Following judgment, Counsel for the BIOT Commissioner immediately applied for permission to appeal the judgment and for a stay to delay the bail order taking effect. Ms Justice Obi dismissed those applications but gave the parties until 5pm on Tuesday to file an agreed order – it is expected that the Commissioner will lodge an application to appeal at the BIOT Court of Appeal before then.

Tom Short, solicitor at law firm Leigh Day which represents 28 of the individuals held in the detention camp, said:

“We are relieved that the Court has granted all our clients modest freedoms that will allow them to escape, if only temporarily for now, the utterly deplorable conditions in which they have long been detained. When the dust settles, questions will need to be asked at the highest levels of government as to why bail was resisted for so long: to refuse children access to a nature trail that lies within throwing distance of the fence behind which they have been imprisoned for nearly three years on the purported grounds of U.S. military security is, we believe, both absurd and cruel.

“The BIOT Commissioner now accepts that the detention camp is in full-blown crisis. While the grant of bail will provide temporary respite, we believe the British Prime Minister must act now and act fast to bring an end to this humanitarian crisis.”

Tessa Gregory, partner at Leigh Day, added: “The court heard that the camp is in complete crisis. Sadly, news of the mass suicide attempt and self-harm is not surprising to those who are aware of the conditions in the camp - after three years being detained in squalid conditions many of our clients have dire mental health problems and are suffering from overwhelming despair. This is a group of extremely vulnerable individuals who fled their country seeking only safety and freedom and must now be urgently relocated to the UK.”