News

The UK government will allow around 36 Sri Lankan Tamils who have been stranded for more than three years on Diego Garcia to come to the UK.

The group has been living in an “inadequate” makeshift camp on the island, which is home to a UK-US military base, after becoming the first people to seek asylum there.

Duncan Lewis represents 15 clients who are on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago (known as the British Indian Ocean Territory), on dates between October 2021 and December 2022. Since arrival, our clients have been held in conditions determined to be “inadequate” by bodies such as the British Red Cross and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. These clients have suffered myriad injustices during their time on Diego Garcia, necessitating lengthy and complicated litigation to secure basic liberties, as well as necessary protections for the welfare for our clients and our clients’ children. On 25 June 2024, the then-Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean, Paul Candler, described the camp as “in crisis” following a mass self-harm attempt. He resigned from his post in August 2024 having described the situation as “increasingly difficult.”

Duncan Lewis and Leigh Day issued a claim for judicial review against the Foreign Secretary in the UK on 29 March 2024. This was issued on behalf of three clients with international protection who have remained on BIOT since their boat came into distress and was taken there in October 2021, and April 2022 respectively, challenging the delay in facilitating their relocation to a safe third country. Our client, “RG”, was granted international protection on 30 March 2023, and since then was provided no updates on when or where he would be relocated. On 25 July 2024, Sheldon J listed the claim for a rolled-up hearing to take place by the end of 2024.

On 8 October 2024, the Government announced that 36 of the 64 migrants under the duty of care of the BIOT Administration would be relocated to an emergency transit facility in Romania, before being offered to come to the UK after six months.  The remaining migrants had no further clarity on their future, despite ongoing claims for international protection. Instead, the only offer they received is an enhanced package offering voluntary return to Sri Lanka. Duncan Lewis, alongside solicitors from Leigh Day and Wilson’s, split between teams on Diego Garcia and in London and hastily applied for permission to amend their grounds of challenge and supporting evidence to address these new decisions.  Chamberlain J granted this application and a 3-day rolled up hearing listed for 9-11 December, 2024.

The situation on Diego Garcia was incredibly fraught, with our team working in intense conditions to take instructions from very vulnerable clients, many of whom had no idea what their future now held following the update from His Majesty’s Government.

On 4 November 2024, the Secretary of State revealed in open court a change in policy, whereby they would offer all individuals on BIOT (save for those with criminal convictions) the opportunity to enter the UK, subject to relevant biometric checks. Our clients are grateful for the UK Government’s change in position in this respect, representing a proper recognition of their plight over the last three years and the fact that they should be afforded the opportunity to begin rebuilding their lives somewhere safe and secure.

Duncan Lewis Solicitor with conduct Maria Petrova-Collins said: “For the past three years we have been advising our clients that there is always light at the end of the tunnel in the most dreadful of circumstances. We are now pleased to advise them that the light is finally in sight and brighter than ever. We now expect the British Government to facilitate our clients' transfer to the UK urgently and provide the necessary arrangements to ensure that our clients are treated with fairness, dignity and respect at all stages of their onward legal journey in the UK. We will not settle for anything less.”

“RG” and the other Claimants were represented by Toufique Hossain, Maria Petrova-Collins, Simon Robinson, Gina Skandari, Sulaiha Ali, Raja Uruthiravinayagan, Angelo Monni, Fionnuala Gregan, Ben Nelson, Sugani Suganthan, Jodie Spencer, Kristen Allison, David Garrick, George Sheldon Grun, and Joseph Brian Murphy, of Duncan Lewis, and by counsel Chris Buttler KC, Helen Law, Jack Boswell and Eleanor Mitchell of Matrix Chambers. The Duncan Lewis team and counsel worked alongside Leigh Day and other firms. 

Our Public Law Team

Duncan Lewis’ Public Law team, ranked in Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500 UK directories, has a broad practice representing both privately and publicly funded (legal aid) clients in matters involving immigration; asylum and human rights and deportation matters, with a niche practice in immigration and civil liberties claimant judicial review matters. They have significant practice in challenging delays in Home Office decision-making, unlawful immigration detention cases with high net claims for damages and challenging immigration removal decisions, particularly third country removal cases.

The Legal 500 recognises Duncan Lewis' public law team as a 'Top-Tier' department in respect of its immigration and human rights work. With over 160 specialist Immigration lawyers nationwide, we bring the highest level of expertise to all immigration matters. The department has a number of highly skilled lawyers who have trained as barristers, and undertake complex appeal cases up to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.