Decision on Decolonization of Chagos Archipelago

DECISION ON DECOLONISATION OF CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO

The Assembly,

1. TAKES NOTE of the Introductory Note of the Chairperson of the Commission to the Annual Report on the activities of the African Union;

2. RECALLS Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.684(XXX), adopted at the 30^th Ordinary Session held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January 2018, which requested the Commission to report on the progress and implementation of this Decision to the Assembly in June/July 2018;

3. CONGRATULATES and COMMENDS the AU Member States and other States Members of the international community which participated in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) legal proceedings on the Chagos Archipelago;

4. COMMENDS the Commission for the excellent work done on behalf of the African Union in the ICJ legal proceedings in both the written submissions and oral hearings;

5. URGES Member States of the AU to redouble their efforts to contribute to the complete decolonization of Mauritius as requested by previous Assembly decisions;

6. DIRECTS members of the African Group in New York to support all actions at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) that are necessary to contribute to the immediate and complete decolonization of Mauritius, including in accordance with any requirements pursuant to the advisory opinion once it is handed down by the ICJ and received by the UNGA;

7. REQUESTS the Chairperson of the Commission, through the Office of the Legal Counsel, to maintain the efforts to follow up on the ICJ Advisory Opinion on the ‘Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965’ and to report on the results of these efforts in the next Assembly Session in February 2020;

8. DECIDES to remain actively seized with the matter.