Louis Olivier Bancoult was born in 1964 on the island of Peros Banhos in the Chagos
Archipelago, from where he was forcibly removed at the age of four and transported to
Mauritius. In response, his mother Rita Élysée Bancoult, together with activists Charlesia
Alexis and Lisette Talate, founded the Chagos Refugee Group (CRG) in 1982.
Bancoult is an electrician and an advocate for the judicial right of the Chagossians to
return from Mauritius to their original homeland. He has been involved in several high
profile legal actions concerning the exile of the Chagos Islanders.
He was one of five islanders who, in February 2022, stepped on the beach of Peros
Banhos, one of the larger atolls making up the occupied Chagos Islands, due to Mauritius
legal victories «first at the UN General Assembly, then at the UN’s International
Court of Justice, and finally at the UN’s tribunal for settling maritime disputes».
In 2023, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Liseby Élysé, a
Chagossian woman who testified before the International Court of Justice in the case
opposing Mauritius to the United Kingdom.
Soyez le premier à commenter