Richard Gifford Published: 6th November 2015 It is 50 years ago next month since the Chagos islands were detached from Mauritius and the population deported to make way for an airbase. Many lawyers since that date have tried to construct a remedy , and this task has fallen to me for the past 18 years in company with Clifford Chance , with whom I am now a consultant and for 10 years before that as a partner with Sheridans. Over such a long period , with successes and failures along the way , this litigation has become a cat and mouse struggle between a government and its citizens in which the courts have played an important part. As a legal campaigner , I should point that out whilst I believe all the facts and comments in this talk are accurate I cannot pretend that all of what follows is agreed , and may not represent the views of the government , of some of the judiciary or indeed of my firm. The Chagossian Islanders Litigation (1982 – ) You might be interested in… Non-litigation remedies: complaints, appeals and investigations