Between 1968 and 1973, British Labour and Conservative governments organized the removal of everyone living on the 55 islands that now constitute the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), and that were split off from Mauritius at the time of its independence. This was done at the behest of the United States, which at the time was embroiled in the Vietnam War and required, for understandable security reasons, the use of the island of Diego Garcia as an air and naval base.
在1968到1973年间，英国工党和保守党政府先后组织将当年毛里求斯独立后分离出来，现为英属印度洋领地（BIOT）的55个岛屿中的居民全部迁离。此举是应美国的要求进行的，因为当时卷入越战的美国基于某种可以理解的国防原因，需要将其中的迪戈·加西亚岛变成海空军基地。而英国外交部则宣称查戈斯群岛上根本没有常住居民。