British Indian Ocean Territory

The British Indian Ocean Territory is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom encompassing the Chagos Archipelago and consisting of over one thousand islands. The territory is inhabited solely by British and United States military personnel with the local population having been forcibly removed from 1968 to 1973.

The Bahá’í Faith was present in the area in the late 1950s with Bahá’ís pioneering from Mauritius and a Bahá’í family pioneered from the Seychelles in 1968, however due to the lack of a civilian population there is currently no Bahá’í community in the territory.

History

In 1953 the Ten Year Crusade was launched by Shoghi Effendi which was a teaching plan aiming to establish Bahá’í communities across the world. The Chagos Archipelago was named a goal territory for the establishment of a Bahá’í community and in January, 1954, ‘Abdu’l Rahman Zarqani attempted to pioneer to the area, however he was unable to secure work and as the islands were privately owned at the time he was not given permission to settle.

In 1957 Pouva Murday successfully pioneered to the islands from Mauritius and was able to live in the area for nine months during which a few people declared. In 1958 another Mauritian Bahá’í, Auguste Follett, pioneered to Salomon Island in the area remaining until 1961 with two people declaring during his time there.

In November, 1968, Atherville Cedras pioneered to Chagos from the Seychelles with his wife and three children. As of 1972 they had departed the area and that year the Universal House of Justice tasked the Seychelles Bahá’í community with re-opening Chagos to the Faith by 1973 if circumstances permitted, however by April, 1973, the entire local population of the Chagos Archipelago had been forcibly moved to Mauritius and the Seychelles by the British authorities.

In 2019 the International Court of Justice ruled the United Kingdom does not have sovereignty over the region and that administration of the Islands should be assumed by Mauritius, however the region remains under British administration with no access being permitted except by those associated with the military or administration of the territory.